Good for what ails ya

Oh, it has been a looooong time since I posted. My apologies. I thought about posting about Jamie Oliver's new show in the States, but that's been hashed to death by others, so I think I'll leave it alone.

However, I do have to share this. It's a recipe from a book I have, Full Moon Feast by Jessica Prentice. I think it's one of my favourite food books ever, because it marries food (including excellent recipes) with spirituality, research, and entertaining stories.

I can't quite figure out if we're still in the Egg Moon (there are a LOT of eggs to be had right now!) or if we're into the Milk Moon - since we got our first milk of the season last week. Regardless, I have sniffles and was feeling sorry for myself and remembered this recipe from the Egg Moon section of the book. It is SO fast to make (like, 5 minutes) and if you have small hands who want to help, there is ample opportunity, what with the washing the greens & beating the eggs. Plus it's instant gratification, which always goes over well with the little ones.

Stracciatella (Roman Egg-drop Soup)

2-3 cups chicken broth
1-2 eggs
2 tbsp grated parmesan cheese
2 handfuls of greens (spinach, chard, any tender green - but sorrel is tastiest)
salt to taste
pepper & grated nutmeg

Heat chicken broth in a saucepan and salt to taste. Rinse & thinly slice (coarse chiffonade) the greens. Beat the egg lightly, then stir the parmesan into the egg. When the chicken broth reaches a boil, dump the greens in. Depending on the greens, you can cook for a bit or just dump the egg mixture in right away, stirring gently. The egg will cook as it hits the hot soup.

Serve immediately with some ground pepper and a touch of grated nutmeg, if you feel inclined to dig your nutmeg out of your disorganized spice cupboard, which I did not. (It is good with the nutmeg though. Usually I have a nutmeg sitting on the back of my stove but it has run away.)