Minestra Maritata
Author: Pizza Today
Recipe type: soups
Courtesy of Brian Gojdics Tutta Bella, Seattle, WA
Ingredients
- Prosciutto brodo
- ½ pound prosciutto end pieces
Instructions
- In a heavy bottom stock pot, add the prosciutto pieces and ½ gallon of cold water.
- Bring it up to a simmer and let it simmer for about an hour to pull as much flavor as possible from the prosciutto.
- Strain the broth into a bowl and discard prosciutto pieces.
- Let the brodo cool in your refrigerator.
- The fat will rise to the surface and harden as it cools.
- Once hardened, remove the fat and set broth aside
Minestra Maritata
Author: Pizza Today
Recipe type: soups
Ingredients
- Parmesan Brodo
- ½ pound Parmesan rinds (save the cheese for another use and to garnish the soup)
Instructions
- In a heavy bottom stock pot, add the parmesan rinds and ½ gallon of cold water.
- Bring it up to a simmer and let it simmer for about an hour to pull as much flavor as possible from the cheese rinds.
- Stir occasionally so the cheese rinds do not stick to the bottom of the pot and burn.
- If it does stick and burn, you will need to start over otherwise your soup will have a burnt flavor.
- Strain the broth into a bowl and discard Parmesan pieces.
- Let it cool in your refrigerator.
- The fat from the cheese will rise to the surface and congeal as it cools.
- Once congealed, skim the surface of the broth to remove and solids and set broth aside.
Minestra Maritata
Author: Pizza Today
Recipe type: soups
Ingredients
- Meatballs
- 1 cup stale Italian bread cut into ½ inch cubes
- 1 cup milk + ¼ cup if needed
- ½ pound ground beef
- ¼ pound ground pork
- ¼ pound ground veal
- ¼ teaspoon minced garlic
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ¼ cup Grana Padano
- 1 egg, beaten
- Extra-virgin olive oil as needed for frying.
Instructions
- Combine both the 1 cup of stale bread cubes with 1 cup of milk in a bowl. Let the bread absorb the milk and turn them mushy — mix half way through with a total soak time of 30 minutes. Once the bread has rehydrated give it a light squeeze to drain a little of the milk away.
- With your hands, tear the cubes into very small pieces the size of BBs (this should take no effort) and combine with the ground beef, ground pork and ground veal.
- Add the garlic, salt, Grana Padano and eggs.
- Using your hands, mix the mixture until all is just incorporated.
- The meatball mix should be sticky.
- If not, add the milk in one tablespoon increments up to ¼ of a cup.
- Roll the meatballs to the size of a quarter and fry them in hot extra-virgin olive oil until they are browned on all sides.
- Set aside to drain on paper towel.
Minestra Maritata
Author: Pizza Today
Recipe type: soups
Ingredients
- Minestra Maritata
- ½ gallon prosciutto brodo
- ½ gallon Parmesan brodo
- meatballs
- 1 bunch of rapini
- 1 head of escarole
- 1 large yellow onions
- sea salt, to taste
- shaved parmesan, garnish
- virgin olive oil, garnish
Instructions
- Combine the prosciutto brodo and the Parmesan brodo and bring to a simmer.
- In the meantime, remove both ends and the skin from the onions and julienne.
- Wash both the rapini and escarole in cold water.
- The escarole may be very dirty and you may have to wash it several times before all the grit will go away.
- Once the greens are cleaned, cut into pieces roughly the size of a half of a dollar bill.
- Once the brodo is at a simmer, add the julienned onion and the greens.
- Let simmer for 30 minutes or until the greens are cooked through and have turned a dark green.
- Add the meatballs and simmer for another 20 minutes.
- Taste and check if the soup needs salt and add to taste.
- Pull the soup off of the heat and cool completely, preferably overnight.
- This will allow time for all of the ingredients to “marry” and create something wonderful.
