Sorry about two cauliflower recipes in a row, I was convinced I used the nine of them I had in my case, then I found this one, that needed to be consumed or would go bad. Since I never throw away food (or at least I try), my father would always tell me when I was growing up, “You cannot throw away food, there are too many people starving in the world”, so now I do feel guilty to throw away anything. When you think about it, in our Western world, people die because they eat too much, in some other parts of the world, people die because they have nothing to eat. How unfair and absurd is that?

I think cauliflower is an amazing vegetable, and its use is so versatile…I was trying to find a way to combine it with seafood, and this cappuccino perfectly achieved what I had in mind, associating two complementing and opposite textures, the creaminess of the cauliflower with chewiness of the clams. That was a lovely combination, especially with the delicate touch of saffron (which I adore with seafood).

Now you might wonder why this is called cappuccino, since there is no coffee in it, and certainly cannot have this for breakfast. The cauliflower being cooked in milk and the foam used to top off the soup, the whole thing served in a cappuccino cup, it definitely resembles a savory version of the traditional and very famous coffee drink.

It’s a nice festive and delicious soup, so when you have no inspiration for cauliflower, try this soup, it’s such a treat.

Ingredients for 4-5

• 1 tbs olive oil
• 1 large potato, peeled and cut
• 1/2 leek, white part
• 1 cauliflower
• 1/2 cup vegetable broth
• milk (enough to cover the vegetables)
• 1 dose of saffron
• 16-20 clams
• salt and pepper

Preparation

In a large pot, heat olive oil add leek, potatoes and cauliflower and cook vegetables stirring for about 10 minutes. Add broth, milk and saffron, salt and pepper. Cover with a lid and cook at medium heat until the vegetables are tender. Remove from heat and keep about 1/2 cup of the milk aside. Let it cool.

In another pot, heat olive oil and clams. Adjust with salt and pepper, and let the clams open. When the clams are open, remove from heat and keep warm.

Using a hand blender blend vegetables into a thin puree. Pass through a sieve to obtain a creamy and smooth texture. If the consistency is too thick, add a little broth.

To make foam, place cooled milk (set aside) in a small pot and heat it up without boiling it. Whisk gradually milk to make it foam. When obtained desired and thick foam. Pour soup on cappuccino cups, add 2 tbs foam on each cup and place 4 clams on top. Decorate with saffron threads and chives. Serve hot.

I had a conversation with my mom this morning, she told me she made passatelli, suddenly I got the irresistible urge to make them too. When I lived at home, I was never a fan of them, probably because that soup was served way too often. Between my grandma and my mom, we ate passatelli maybe once a week. When you eat something all the time, the excitement goes away. I guess tastes change when you grow up and move out of your country.

This is a regional soup very common in Romagna and Marche regions of Italy, it’s traditionally made for some festive occasions, but then people end up making them when they feel like it. It’s another peasant dish made basically with breadrumbs, parmesan, eggs, nutmeg and if you want lemon peel (I like it better without it, I think the lemon is too strong).

The original recipes is made with a chicken or beef broth (or sometimes a combination of both). I like it also with just a vegetable broth. Here, the broth has been enhanced with chards and carrots “en julienne” (cut in tiny strips), so you get a little texture and color and of course the benefits of eating vegetables.

I always ate broth made with hen instead of chicken, hen is fatter and takes hours to cook, so it’s mainly used in broths. Nowadays people use chicken in their broth, probably because it takes less time to cook. It’s important to “degrease” the broth from the deposits and fat the meat produces (if you’re using meat) while cooking, so you’ll get a clear and healthy broth. When making passatelli usually, you eat the boiled meat along with the soup called “lesso“, I have never been a fan of it, and remember my dad pouring tons of black pepper and olive oil on top of his meat.

You need to have that particular kind of potato masher (schiacciapatate) like this one, to make those little round and long threads (not sure how to describe them).  There is another tool used to make passatelli but I don’t think it’s available in the US.

I like to make my own breadcrumbs with old and hard baguette or what is called “Italian bread”, I grate it and get great quality crumbs. The ones you buy already made in stores tend to have an unpleasant taste, and for the passatelli home made crumbs work much better and hold the paste together well, so when you drop them in the broth, they don’t break.

Ingredients for 4

For the broth

• 4 cups or more of water
• 1 leek
• 1 carrot
• 2 celeri stalks
• 1 turnip
• 1 onion with 4 cloves
• 1 bay leave
• 1 thyme sprig
• 1/2 hen or chicken, or beef
• salt and pepper

For the passatelli

• 250 g parmesan, finely grated
• 250 g breadcrumbs
• 3 tbs flour
• 4 eggs
• nutmeg
• lemon peel (optional)
• salt and pepper

Preparation

For the broth

Using a large pot, mix ingredients with water and let it simmer for a while at least an hour. If using hen, it might take over 2 hours. Regularly, remove the deposits you get on the surface of your broth (especially, if you are using a meat based broth).

When the broth is cooked, remove all the vegetables and residues and drain it through a sieve to get a clear broth. Add carrots and chopped chards, and let it cook for a few minutes, until the carrots are cooked.

For the passatelli

In a mixing container, mix, breadcrumbs, parmesan, eggs, flour, nutmeg, salt and pepper. Mix well and let it rest for about an hour. You need to have a hard enough mixture, but not too hard or it will not go through the potato masher.

Fill the potato masher with the dough mixture, bring the potato masher on top of boiling broth and squeeze to produce the passatelli, then cut the base with a knife. The passatelli will drop on top of your pot. Cook for one minute or so. Remove from the stove, sprinkle wit olive oil and serve hot.

]]> http://citronetvanille.com/blog/2009/12/the-poor-soup-passatelli-revisited-with-chards-and-carrots/feed/ 20