Jesse, I sent this to my sister. You may want to try it. Good, healthy, filling and old world Italian soup.
OK Pam, I'll put in quotes mom's exact words.
You take a piece of "2X2 inch piece of salt pork. Get a package with no meat." You want only the white fat. Cut off the heavy skin and meat. I don't know if she meant 2X2X2 so I use a goodly amount. The soup does taste so much better with a goodly amount of pork fat. DON'T use fat back. You want to begin by "slicing it tissue thin along with two or three cloves of garlic and a couple sprigs of fresh parsley."
I cut my salt pork paper thin along with two good size sprigs of parsley (throw away the stems) and three small cloves of garlic and cut them into a paste. Cut, chop, and mince everything into a paste. Mom said to use, "a heavy knife under hot water," Heat up the knife so the salt pork doesn't stick to the knife. "Cut and pound everything into mush." Keep folding over the fat until its paste. Its easier to cut if the salt pork is frozen.
"Saute it in a heavy pot. Mix it with a fork melting it." I add two tabs of butter and melt everything together. DON"T burn the garlic so melt the base slowly.
"Before I saute the salt pork paste I dice up two carrots, one large or two small potatoes and a stalk of celery " I make sure nothing is to large so that some potato, carrot, celery a bean can all fit on the spoon. Like mom said, " You have to show the love." Yup, that was deep for mom.
After the paste is melted I add my vegetables and stir them into the paste coating them completely and letting them sizzle in the fat for a few minutes locking in the flavor.
"Put in 1 1/2 pints (I use three cups) of water." "Add a little less than a table spoon of tomato paste. Our people didn't like to use a lot of tomato paste. That's more of a Southern Italian way of cooking."
"Put in salt to taste." Start with a heaping teaspoon and add from there. It you think the broth is too salty, remember that the rice will absorb the salty taste.
"When the vegetables are soft, about thirty/forty minutes in a slow boil, when you're ready to eat, add a can of Stewart kidney beans." The celery seems to take the longest to soften. I use a can of light red kidney beans but God forbid there not Stewart kidney beans. "Make sure you rinse them good and then add and heat them in your soup for a few minutes."
Mom hollered at me when I asked her about using rice that looked like little H's because she couldn't remember using rice with potato in a soup. Mom then said the rice was overcooked which was why it looked like little H's. I boil a half cup of Uncle Ben's white rice. This turns into a full cup of cooked rice. Just follow the directions on the rice package. It's just a filler for a growing family. Keep the rice separate for left overs otherwise the rice will soak up all the broth.
I put a couple soup spoons of rice in my bowl then ladle in the soup. Parmigiana cheese on top. Yes, I will get a fresh loaf of Vienna Bread even though everyone else calls it Italian bread and don't know what I'm talking about when I ask. Good luck Pam. I make this for Deb at least once every three weeks. We always salute mom with a glass of red. 😥
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