SICILIAN SOUP RECIPES

Steps:

• 1. Grating the butternut squash into the soup is a little trick I saw in Sicily. It gives it good colour and sweetness.
  2. Finely chop the onion, celery, fennel, garlic and chilli. Heat the oil in a large pan, add the onion, celery, fennel, garlic and chilli and sweat gently until soft. Add the wine, tomatoes or passata, squash and stock and bring to the boil. Cover and simmer gently for 30 minutes. Season and gently break up the tomatoes.
  3. Roughly chop the salmon and halibut and add to the pan. Add the prawns or langoustine tails, cover and simmer for 10 minutes or until just cooked.
  4. Taste the soup and season it again with salt and pepper and a squeeze of lemon juice, if necessary.
  5. Serve drizzled with olive oil and sprinkled with the chopped parsley.

Steps:

• In a large stockpot (16 quart minimum / 20 quart recommended) heat olive oil under fairly low to medium heat.
• "Sweat" onion, celery, green pepper and some salt (to draw off moisture) for perhaps 30 minutes -- this is lower than browning, and makes the veggies somewhat translucent. I covered, and mixed every few minutes to prevent browning.
• Add carrots, garlic, some white pepper and some black pepper, and continue to heat under "sweat" conditions while mixing now and then.
• Add chicken stock, chicken breasts, tomatoes and potatoes -- and of course some more white pepper and black pepper.
• Cover and simmer on low heat for 1.5 to 2 hours (or use crock pot?).
• Remove chicken and let cool and stand to shred.
• Add chopped parsley and return the shredded chicken to the soup.
• Salt to taste at this point, and add more white and black pepper if your tongue is not twitching a bit when you sample. ;-).
• Simmer while cooking ditalini (or other stubby pasta).
• Serve soup over cooked pasta to taste.
• Note: Like many soups, this may be better made the day before and then served when needed. We will freeze some for ready-made meals and I think it will work out well.