Ciorba de Perisoare - Romanian Meatball Soup

Running a soup blog, I invariably get asked the question "What is your favourite soup?".  Its a really difficult question to answer, obviously.  That's like asking "Which is your favourite child" and I wouldn't want any of my soups to feel like they were second best. However, after several years of making and eating soups from around the world, I'm beginning to think that my favourite soups are those from Eastern Europe.

The reason for this is that I think they get the flavour combinations right - often using lemon juice, or vinegar to add a sour note that works really well.  They are often pretty simple recipes, and (oh yes) often incorporate either dumplings or meatballs.  And regular readers will know how I feel about those two...

So my round-the-world soupstravaganza hits Romania, which is undoubtedly most well known as the place where Dracula lives.  I'm pretty sure some other stuff must have happened there, but really nothing of importance from the time Peter Cushing killed Vlad until the present time*

They did, however, come up with lots and lots of exiting soups, many of them with that slightly sour taste that I love so much.  And this one has meatballs, so I just had to give it a go.  The addition of rice to the meatballs makes the meat stretch that little bit further, and although it's a simple soup to put together, the end results are so tasty...

* This may not have happened

Ingredients
300g Minced Beef
50g Long Grain Rice
2 Carrots
2 Onions
2 Celery Stalks
1 Green Pepper
1 Lemon
3tbsp Tomato Puree
1.5l Beef Stock

Method
1.  Peel the carrots and parsnip, cut them into small cubes.

2. De-seed the green pepper and cut finely, as well as one of the onions and the celery stalks

3.  Heat some oil in your soup pan and gently fry the vegetables until soft but not starting to colour

4.  Add the stock to the pan, as well as the tomato puree, lemon juice and bring to the boil.  Cover the pan and simmer for 30 minuted

5.  In a mixing bowl, combine the minced beef, washed rice and then grate the other onion and add this to the mixture, along with 1tsp of salt and some black pepper.

6.  Form the mixture into balls about an inch across.

7.  Add these to the soup after 30 minutes and continue to simmer gently for another 10-15 minutes, until the meatballs are cooked.  You will be able to tell when they are cooked as they will float to the surface of the soup.

8.  Adjust seasoning to taste and then serve.  Enjoy!

Albondiga Soup

 Sometimes, there is a little bit of serendipity (but not that awful film with Kate Beckinsale in) at work in the Soup Tuesday recipe lab.  For instance, a trail that started with a desire to make meatballs (and don't we all get that desire sometimes) coupled with an obsession with chorizo that is second only to my all-consuming black pudding mania, plus a wish to make something sunny and fresh to combat the wettest April since the dinosaurs pulled their wellies on, led to this soup

And then I realised that it's also almost Cinco de Mayo, which I am given to understand is an excuse to drink as many margaritas as humanly possible, like St Paddy's day with Guinness (possibly it has another meaning which you can find out about here.

Also, Mexico's flag kicks ass! Some sort of bird vs snake battle going on!

So we are making albondigas. Say that word out loud Albondiga.  Can you say it without smiling?  If you can, maybe once you have tasted this soup, you will have a slight grin on your face anyway!

To start this recipe, I made my own version of chorizo, which, before you write in and complain, I know is not really what albondigas are made with, but I thought it sounded like a great combination of flavours.  Maybe in the future I'll get a sausage making machine, but for now this is just the filling of a chorizo, which makes it easier to roll into the albondigas (I'm smiling even as I type that word...)

Ingredients
For the Chorizo
500g Minced Pork
20g Paprika
2g Cayenne Pepper
3g Fennel Seeds
2g Salt
2 Cloves of Garlic


For the Albondigas
1tbsp Chopped Flat Leaf Parsley
1tbsp Chopped Mint Leaves
1 Egg (Beaten)


For the Soup
1 Onion
1 Carrot
1 Can Chopped Tomatoes
1 Courgette
2 Cloves Garlic
100g Sugar Snap Peas
1tsp Dried Oregano
1tbsp Chopped Coriander
1.2l Chicken Stock

1.  To make the chorizo mix, put the pork and spices in a large bowl and mix them together thoroughly, then put in a sealed container and refrigerate, at least overnight.

2. In a large bowl, combine the chorizo mix, chopped parsley and mint and mix together.  Then roll them out into meatballs, about 3cm across (you should make around 20 with this recipe) then set aside

3. Finely chop the onion and carrot.  Heat some oil in a large pan and add the onion and carrot, then cook for 5 minutes, until the vegetables start to soften.

4. Add the tin of tomatoes, chopped garlic cloves, oregano and bring to the boil.

5.  Add the stock and bring to a simmer before adding the chopped courgette and sugar snap peas.  Check seasoning and adjust to taste.

6.  Add the meatballs, carefully placing them into the pan one at a time, then simmer for 30 minutes.  Try not to stir the soup too much when the meatballs are cooking as this might cause them to break up in the pan

7.  Serve into warm bowls and garnish with fresh chopped corriander leaves and for a little bit of a zing, some tabasco.  Enjoy

Shepherd's Pie

Last night I cooked a meal for my parents, which even at my age is a fairly terrifying prospect.  There was a lot of stressing over what to cook, how to cook it and when to serve it, and hopefully all without being on the receiving end of any withering put-downs about the quality or quantity of the menu.

In the end, it all worked out fine - I decided to cook various curry dishes from scratch, all of which met with hearty approval (although the availability of large quantities of wine helped somewhat!) but it got me thinking about the relationship between parents, cooking and memory.  Whenever I cook certain dishes, I'm only happy if they resemble the versions cooked by my mother (in particular, Steak and Kidney Pie, one of my all time favourite dishes) and when I'm thinking about planning meals, there are certain dishes that I always fall back on, and these are always dishes that I ate when I was a kid.

Does everyone do this?  And what were your favourite meals as a child that you still cook reguarly - I'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments (and also what you have cooked for your parents, and if you found it as intimidating as I did!)