Stracciatella

Originally the eggs in this soup are supposed to resemble long strands. But after having it this way a few times I prefer this way! This soup is super easy! 

Ingredients: 

8 cups of chicken stock 

1 package of spinach, cleaned, de stemmed and chopped 

4 eggs 

Pepper 

2/3 cup of parmeasean cheese. 

Directions: 

1. Bring the chicken stock to a boil. Add in your spinach. 

2. In a serperste bowl crack your four eggs and beat in your pepper and parmeasean cheese. 

3. There are two ways to add the egg. Originally you are supposed to slowly pour the egg into the soup while stirring slowly to form strands. The second way is to slowly pour the mixture in while beating the broth so that you get fine peices of egg. Continue to stirr or beat depending on the method used. Cook for another 4-5 minutes. 

4. Serve and enjoy! 

Lobster Ravioli in Saffron Cream Sauce

Ingredients: 

2 medium sized lobsters 

1 1/2 cups of fresh ricotta cheese 

1 shallot 

Saffron 

1 pint of heavy cream 

2-3 tablespoons of tomato paste (buy a 6 ounce can, I use Red Pack) 

6 eggs 

3 cups of flour 

1 cup of semolina 

Directions: 

1. Stop by your local fish market and pick out two lobsters. They will steam them there for you. 

2. Make the dough. You will need two kinds plain and a red pasta dough: 

Plain: 

1 1/2 cups of 00 flour 

1/2 cup of semolina 

3 eggs 

Combine ingredients and knead. Cover in Saran Wrap and let sit for at least 30 minutes. 

Red: tomato

1 1/2 cups of 00 flour 

1/2 cup of semolina

3 tablespoons of tomato paste

3 eggs 

Mix the eggs and tomato paste together first. Incorporate the flour. Add more flour as needed. Knead until uniform. Cover in Saran Wrap for at least 30 minutes. 

3. Cut the lobsters. Remove the claws and set aside. Turn your lobster over belly facing up. Pull the tail apart from the body by bending the belly upwards separating the body from the tail.Discard the top portion. Take a knife and slice down the underside of the tail. Remove the meat and place into a bowl. Do the same thing for the second lobster. Clean the tails from any of the green goo from the body. Shred the lobster meat and mix with the 1 1/2 cups of the fresh ricotta. Leave chunks of lobster without leaving them too big that they could break the pasta. Cut up the shallot very fine and add in about 1-2 teaspoons depending on how much you like shallots. Set the mixture aside. 

4. Prepare the dough. Roll out the plain pasta. Cut off a 2 inch peice of dough. Cover the remaining portion and return it to the refrigerator. Begin to flatten it with your hand. Using a pasta machine, roll it through the largest setting. Depending on how well you oringially kneaded it, you can repeat his step a few times, folding it on itself let to give it a good kneading now. Once you determine it to be ready for rolling, send it through the machine lowering the setting each time. Continue to do this right up until the second to last setting. Cut the pasta to fit the size of the ravioli mold. The last setting will be too thin. Set the pasta aside. 

5. Working quickly so the plain pasta does not dry out, repeat the process using the red pasta dough. Cut into 1/5 inch strips and using a brush and water glue the red lines into the plain pasta to mimic the look of a lobster. 

6. Forming the ravioli. Using the ravioli mold, take the striped side and place that side down into the well floured ravioli mold. Press down into the holes gently to ensure everything is correctly positioned. Add the filling. Take the second peice of plain pasta and lay it over the filled raviolis. Using a rolling pin, press firmly and roll the pin along he mold to seal the mold. Turn it upside down and gently seperate the ravioli. Place into a well floured plan with either rice flour or semolina. Using a brush, brush off the flour from the top of the stripes so that it is neat and clean. Continue this for the remaining pasta. Get creative and alternate. You can use the tomato as a contrast and make plain red ones so they look nice next to the stiped ones. 

8. Prepare the claws. Holding the claw upright, bend the "thumb" of the lobster, the little claw away from the joint. One swift yet gentle motion should remove the shell leaving the meat behind. The meat is all one peice so removing the claw doesn't break the meat. Then taking a kitchen scissor cut the claw along the thinnest part to remove the meat in one peice. Some claws you don't even need to cut and you can pop out the bottom once you remove the inferior claw. Set aside. 

9.  In a medium saucepan, heat the pint of heavy cream and saffron. Bring to a boil until the cream becomes yellow and reduce the heat to medium and summer until thickened. Remove from heat when you begin heating the water for the ravioli. It will thicken as it cools. 

10. To cook the ravioli, bring a large pot of water and salt to a boil. Drop the raviolis in. They will float the the surface in a minute or two. Scoop out with a slotted spoon. 

11. Serve into plates. Pour a ladel of cream sauce on top. Decorate with while lobster claw. Serve and enjoy! 

Potato Gnocci

This authentic recipe for fresh gnocci will be worth all the work it takes to make. 

Ingredients: 

1 kilogram of the starchiest potatoes you can find (I used a brand recommended by the produce manager called Klondike, it was very yellow inside) 

150 grams of fine flour (double zero flour) 

2 egg yolks

1 teaspoon of salt 

1/2 teaspoon of pepper 

Directions: 

1. Clean the potatoes with water. Fill a large pot with water and bring to a boil. Place the potatoes whole and still with their skin on into the boiling water. Boil the potatoes for 15-20 minutes. 

2. Remove the potatoes and let cool. Once cool peel potatoes and press through a potato press. If you only have a garlic press that could work too it will just take longer.  

3. Place the 1 kilogram of potato into a large bowl. Add in two egg yolk, flour, salt and pepper. Mix well with your hands. 

4. On a slightly floured surface, knead the dough a few times until everything is incorporated and uniform. Form a large ball. 

5. Using a large knife, cut one inch strips. Take each strip and gently roll it out into rods. Cut each rod in half to work with smaller peices. Roll out all the dough. 

6. Cut each rod into squares. 

7. Shape into the preferred gnocci. For the shape I did, use the back of a fork. Gently press the gnocci square into the back of the fork. When you can tell it has the indent of the fork on the dough, use your finger to gently roll the dough from the top of the fork down to the bottom, rolling the dough so that the indented side of the gnocci is facing you. 

8. When ready to cook, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Drop the gnocci in. They will float to the top when they are ready- about a minute. Scoop them out with a slotted spoon. Serve with your choice of sauce. Gnocci goes very well with red sauces especially with meat, pesto, or cream sauces. 

I like white cream sauces better than red sauce so I used heavy cream, Gorgonzola and parmeasean to make a cream sauce. I added ham, mushrooms and peas because I had that leftover from a previous recipe. It was delicious and the gnocci was light and fluffy. Enjoy! 

The Best Chicken Soup

My mom's best friend Janet makes the BEST chicken soup. This is no where near as divine...but it's pretty damn good! 

Ingredients: 

1 large parsnip

2 turnips 

1 package of fresh dill 

Bundle of carrots 

1 leek 

1 onion 

1 tablespoon of salt 

1 tablespoon of pepper 

1 5 lb chicken 

1 cup of ditalini pasta 

1 package of matzoh ball soup mix 

2 eggs 

2 teaspoons of oil

Directions: 

1. Wash, clean and dry the chicken. Make sure the inside is cleaned. Place it I to the pot. Add your peeled turnips, carrots, onion, and parsnips. Cut the greens off your leek and cut it into three vertically. Add in your salt, pepper and a few sprigs of dill. Fill the pot to the top with cold water. Bring to a boil and then lower to a simmer. Cook for two hours. 

2. After two hours, remove the turnips and parsnips and discard.

 Remove the chicken and set aside to cool. Strain the broth into a new metal pot. Replace carrots to your soup. When the chicken has cooled, use a fork to shred all the chicken off and place it into the soup. 

3. Add 1 cup of ditalini pasta. Keep it on a simmer. 

4. In a medium bowl, take your matzoh mix and add in two eggs and two teaspoons of oil. Mix with a fork and place into the refrigerator for 15 minutes.

5. After 15 minutes, remove the mix from the fridge and make little balls. Bring a seperate pot of boiling chicken broth or salted water to a boil. Drop in your matzoh balls and then cover tightly. Bring down to a summer for 20 minutes. 

6. After 20 minutes, add the matzoh balls to your soup. Cook for another ten minutes and serve! 

Don't forget to add some warm biscuits!!!