ceramic plate from Fifty One and a Half

This soup hits the spot at this time of year.  This is such a delicious soup that makes a perfect marriage of meat and greens (hence the name Italian Wedding Soup).  There are so many versions of this soup it makes your head spin.  Some use rice, some add beans, some use pasta, most have beef meatballs, etc. etc.  Here is how I like to make it. 

First, I use pork for the meatballs. You can use whatever you like - turkey (which I've done), beef, a mixture of beef and pork, whatever.   And I grind it myself as some of you know.  It makes a nice fluffy mixture to work with and I know exactly what is in my meat mixture that way. I used pork shoulder for this - in the grocery store often they slice up this cut of pork into large strips and call it "Country Style Ribs".  It's a nice fatty flavorful cut of pork.  If you want something leaner, by all means use ground pork loin.  

My local farmer's market right now is bursting with bell peppers.  This recipe uses roasted peppers to make a rich soup that's made a little creamy by adding some mascarpone cheese.  If you've never roasted peppers yourself, please give it a try - it's so easy and they are really worth it.  You can use the jarred roasted peppers in the grocery store, but once you see how easy these are to roast, I think you will prefer these.  And if you line your baking sheet with foil, there is no clean up!

Here's a great soup for fall.  It uses up some of those zucchini and is easy, fast and healthy.  I just add wine and chicken broth and fresh chopped chives for added flavor. The garlic toasts are a snap to make and add a nice touch to the soup.

I made a great big batch and froze it in containers for winter, along with a big batch of this soup.  It's so nice to pull out soups like this for a nice warm winter lunch.  

I'm a little overwhelmed by all the e-mails I received about the Auction Dinner.  I was so happy to share the menu with you and some of the fun touches from the dinner.  Thanks to all of you who let me know how much you enjoyed it.  

Fall means knitting to me and this year I've become obsessed with doing mittens (it used to be scarves).  I just finished these purple and black Delphine mittens that a local shop owner here designed.  Was so much fun. Knitting is sort of my Zen place.

I'm thinking about Thanksgiving already.  That's right - but it's not because I'm so super organized or anything, it's because I've been saving and freezing chicken parts all year and now it's time to make some wonderful homemade chicken stock for Thanksgiving.  (I need the freezer space.)  I usually buy whole chickens from The Egg Man, cut the backbones out and cook them this way.  I just freeze these backbones and any other chicken or turkey parts that I may acquire through the year. Then, in the fall, I take them all out and make this super stock.  Making homemade stock is basic, easy and something everyone should learn to do.  

Baby, it's cold outside - the high for today is supposed to be 16 degrees! Here is a hearty soup to get you through the winter. This soup, along with a green salad and some nice bread, is a great dinner for a chilly night.  This soup is loaded with sausage, beans and ditalini pasta.  It's really a pretty traditional "Pasta e Fagioli" soup, but with sausage. I've made the soup with turkey sausage, but you can use any sausage you like.  

Do you ever look at chestnuts at this time of year and wonder what to do with them besides add them to stuffing?  When I was a kid we used to simply roast them over the fire and they were fun to eat.  A couple of years ago, Brian and I were at a dinner party and the hostess served a first course of this soup.  No one could guess what it was and it was absolutely delicious.  This soup is not a beautiful soup to look at, but I guarantee you will be amazed at how delicious it is. It would be a great first course at your Thanksgiving dinner. I topped the soup with croutons that I made using the method out of Thomas Keller's new book, Ad Hoc at Home. These are the croutons they make at the restaurant and they are intense - garlicky, oily, and crunchy, a perfect topping for the soup.

I've been asked by Mel to guest post over at Bouchon for Two while she is traveling around Europe, so hop on over there for the entire post and recipe for this delicious and simple traditional Tuscan soup.   

Pappa di Pomodoro was originally a way to use up stale bread – in the Tuscan kitchen, nothing goes to waste.  When I was growing up, it was also a way to use slightly overripe tomatoes – the ones you’re thinking maybe wouldn’t be so great to slice into a sandwich.  So this Is a very practical dish.  “Pappa” means mush, but don’t let that fool you – it’s delicious.  Now you can find this “peasant” dish in upscale restaurants in Florence.  People love this kind of comfort food. 

Homemade tomato soup is good, but roasted tomato soup is even better. With the abundance of tomatoes right now in the markets, this makes great use of all those tomatoes and may be the best tomato soup you will ever have.

This method calls for roasting the tomatoes, along with some whole garlic, before making the soup. Roasting the tomatoes concentrates their flavor and adds a depth to the soup that you would not have otherwise.

I used beautiful San Marzano tomatoes for this soup because a vendor at my farmer's market had them. Use whatever nice, ripe tomatoes you have. Any Roma or plum tomato is a good choice.