I just realized it has been 11 months since I posted anything. Well, this weekend gave me something to write about. Josh and I left Thursday night after work and began driving north. We stopped in a small town in Wyoming (so small I cannot remember the name) for dinner, then stayed the night in Casper. Friday morning, we got on the road and drove to Bozeman, MT to visit Howard and Molly Dreiseszun. Josh lived with them and their daughter Robin for two years when he played hockey for the Bozeman Ice Dogs.
We had a GREAT visit!! We hiked in the nearby national forest, explored the "main street" downtown after the MSU homecoming parade wrapped up, visited with the neighboring horses--a special delight for me and Scottie--and had dinner with Howard, Molly, Robin, and Clint (Robin's boyfriend). Of all the great things we did, one of the best was going to Sir Scott's Oasis, what Josh called a true Montana steakhouse. It wasn't the best because of the huge slabs of cow overflowing people's plates, or because of my dinner which consisted of chunks of steak which were battered and deep fried, the local beer, or even the great company. All of that was wonderful.
The crowning moment came at the end when everyone was finishing dessert and geting ready to be rolled out of the place. The hostess passed by our table, paused, then asked Josh if he had played for the Bozeman Ice Dogs, "like a decade ago?" Oh yeah, that's right. He told her he had and she said she didn't think there could really be that many guys named Josh Prues, so she figured he had. She used to be a season ticket holder and had recognized his name. Twelve years after leaving the team, Josh is still famous! I loved it, he was embarassed. The truth is, Josh played for the team the first two years it was in existence, and the second year brought them a brand new arena to play in. They packed the arena, every game--standing room only. Molly said they were the biggest thing to hit the city when they came in.
Anyway, enough bird-walking, as my sixth grade teacher, Mrs. McCalip would say. Molly and Howard, well Howard mostly, had a huge beautiful garden. Before we left, Monday morning, Howard raided it and gave me a ton of veggies to bring home. Included in the bounty were: Beets, carrots, horseradish, onions, buttercup squash, tomatoes, Swiss chard, and rainbow chard. Last night I put a number of those vegies together in my own version of Italian Marriage Soup. I am going to get the horseradish into the ground, and as soon as I figure out what to do with the butercup squash, I will post that too.
Italian Marriage Soup
1 1/2 lbs meatball recipe, uncooked--can be found in a previous post
1 c diced carrot
1 c diced celery
1 c diced onion
3/4 c fresh fennel stems and fronds diced finely
4 cloves garlic minced
2 tbls tomato paste
10-12 leaves fresh basil finely torn or chopped
1 large fresh Rosemary sprig
1 med can diced tomatoes
5 c vegetable broth
6 c chopped Swiss chard
Orzo pasta
In a large soup pot, saute the onion, carrot, and celery for about 10 mins on medium heat. Add the fennel and garlic, season with salt and pepper, and saute for 2-3 minutes more. Stir in the tomato paste and cook for 2-3 minutes more, stirring occasionally. Add the basil, rosemary, tomatoes, chard and broth, and bring to a boil. Use a small scoop or spoon to drop meatballs in to soup. Reduce heat and simmer, covered, for about 30 minutes. Taste and adjust seasoning as needed.
Cook Orzo using the instructions on the package. Spoon pasta into a bowl, ladle soup over the top. Sprinkle with grated cheese and serve hot.
This was a great dinner, all on it's own, as it is very balanced and one can control the fat content by the amount of olive oil used, and the fat content in the meatballs. I actually used an extremely lean ground beef from the meat counter for this.
Some people just toss the pasta into the soup for the last 10 minutes of cooking time, which is fine if it will be consumed the first night. But, if it is going to be eaten as leftovers, it is best to make fresh pasta so that it does not swell up to the size of New Jersey while sitting over night in the soup.
FYI--we folowed it up with chocolate cupcakes for dessert. :-)
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