{"id":144,"date":"2014-06-09T02:10:00","date_gmt":"2014-06-09T02:10:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/elitemporaryblog.wordpress.com\/2014\/06\/09\/right-now"},"modified":"2015-12-13T16:53:27","modified_gmt":"2015-12-13T21:53:27","slug":"right-now","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/orangette.net\/2014\/06\/right-now\/","title":{"rendered":"Right now"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hello from a train en route to Portland, Oregon! I\u2019ll be at Jim Dixon\u2019s Real Good Food olive oil warehouse<\/a>\u00a0tomorrow, Monday, from 3 to 4, if you\u2019d like to stop by for some olive oil and a book, and then I\u2019ll be reading at Powell\u2019s<\/a>\u00a0on Burnside tomorrow night at 7:30. And then, on the way home, because I am an unstoppable book-signing machine, I\u2019ll be swinging by the Bayview School of Cooking<\/a>, in Olympia, for an event at 6:00 pm. If you\u2019re in the area(s), come on out.<\/p>\n

Now, in the meantime, I promised you the recipe for June\u2019s new favorite thing, which, now that I think about it, may also be my new favorite thing. The thing in question is minestra di piselli e polpettine di pollo<\/i>, or English pea and chicken meatball soup. Does it sound more enticing if we call it herbed chicken meatballs in broth with peas and Parmesan? It does have herbs and Parmesan. It seems wrong to not mention that.<\/p>\n

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First of all: poached meatballs. I know. Not attractive. In general, poached meat is rarely attractive, except maybe poached chicken breasts, maybe. That aside, look at the peas! Attractive! The golden(ish), clear(ish) broth! The grated Parmesan, which I forgot to put on for this photo! And more to the point: the flavor!<\/p>\n

A couple of years ago, a small, handsome book called Zuppe<\/a><\/i>, by Mona Talbott, showed up on my stoop. (I often receive free, unsolicited copies of newly published books, and this was one of them. Full disclosure, etc.) Talbott, I learned, was the founding executive chef of the Rome Sustainable Food Project<\/a> at the American Academy in Rome<\/a>, where she cooked for the Academy\u2019s community of scholars, artists, and thinkers. I immediately got the sense that she had spent a lot <\/i>of time thinking about soup \u2013 my kind of person \u2013 and her recipes felt like the stuff of Italian grandmothers, humble but satisfying, the way I want everyday cooking to feel. I thumbed through the book, and then I put it on top of the fridge with the other dozen or so cookbooks that I use most, even though I hadn\u2019t used it yet. I just had a feeling.<\/p>\n

The recipes in Zuppe<\/i> are not elaborate, and they\u2019re also not very detailed: they assume that you already know something about cooking and have your own opinions and instincts to bring to the task. That\u2019s not necessarily a problem: these recipes have some very good ideas, very doable good ideas that I wouldn\u2019t come up with alone, and if you jump in and follow your nose, they\u2019re great. (I find that many of Nigel Slater\u2019s recipes work the same way.) For instance, this soup. It could<\/i> be plain. But if you make sure that your broth is flavorful, your fresh herbs are fresh, your meatballs are seasoned well, and your Parmesan is good, it\u2019s quietly perfect, just what I want to eat as late spring turns into summer. It feels comforting, filling, but also light. We\u2019ve mostly eaten it for dinner, because it\u2019s so easy to do ahead (see below) and because many days, by dinnertime, I can barely manage to pour a Campari Shandy<\/a> and let\u2019s not even talk about actual\u00a0cooking <\/i>no no no. It would also be an ideal lunch.<\/p>\n

I should also say, for those of you in the business of feeding babies or toddlers, that this sort of meal is spot-on for June. (Right now. Tune in for the next episode!) I quarter her meatballs, and she eats them and the peas mostly with her fingers, and then she drinks the broth that\u2019s left. It makes us both happy.<\/p>\n

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Recipe<\/div>\n

Herbed Chicken Meatballs in Broth with Peas and Parmesan<\/h2>\n

Adapted from Zuppe<\/a><\/i>, by Mona Talbott<\/h3> \n \n <\/header>\n\n
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