Tomato Stracciatella Food

TOMATO STRACCIATELLA

Steps:

• Heat the olive oil over medium heat in a large, heavy soup pot or Dutch oven. Add the garlic. Stir until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add the tomatoes and basil sprig. Cook, stirring, until the tomatoes have cooked down slightly and smell fragrant, about 10 minutes. Season to taste, and add the vegetable or chicken stock. Bring to a simmer, cover and simmer 20 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
• In a large mixing bowl, beat together the eggs, bread crumbs or semolina, Parmesan, parsley and basil or chives. Beat until frothy.
• Bring the soup to a boil, and slowly drizzle in a thin stream of the egg mixture, stirring constantly. After the mixture has been added, reduce the heat and simmer five minutes. Taste and adjust seasonings. Add a spoonful of cooked soup pasta to the bowl if desired.

FRESH STRACCIATELLA

Steps:

• Making mozzarella: In a large pot, bring 2 quarts water and the kosher salt to a boil. Remove from heat and let cool to 180 degrees F.
• Add mozzarella curd to a large bowl and bring to room temperature. When the water has cooled to 180 degrees F, ladle it onto the curd. The curd will begin to look like shaggy mozzarella. Using a wooden spoon, stir and stretch the cheese until it forms a cohesive ball and takes on a "plastic" texture.
• Shaping mozzarella: Place half of the whey water (the salted water that turned the cheese curd into mozzarella) in another large bowl and chill to 80 degrees F. Meanwhile, work the mozzarella that's in the remaining warm whey water into 1 large ball. Knead and stretch the ball of cheese until there are no more lumps. Once the cheese is smooth, pull off a 4-inch section and put it into the second bowl containing the cooled whey water. Repeat this process with the remaining cheese.
• Making stracciatella: Take each of the sections of the mozzarella out of the cooled water and pull apart the strands (like string cheese). Put all of the pulled strands of cheese into a mixing bowl and add the heavy cream. Gently stir to make stracciatella. Set aside.
• Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Place baguette slices on a baking sheet. Drizzle olive oil over the slices and place in the oven to toast, about 10 minutes. Remove from oven and, while still warm, rub cut side of garlic over the toasted bread. Then rub the bread with the cut side of tomato while gently squeezing the tomato halves. Top slices with a generous spoonful of stracciatella followed by a drizzle of olive oil, flaky sea salt and freshly cracked black pepper.

STRACCIATELLA SOUP

Steps:

• Bring the broth to a boil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. In a bowl, whisk the eggs, cheese, parsley, and basil to blend. Reduce the heat to medium-low. Stir the broth in a circular motion. Gradually drizzle the egg mixture into the moving broth, stirring gently with a fork to form thin strands of egg, about 1 minute. Stir in the spinach, then season the soup, to taste, with salt and pepper.
• Ladle the soup into bowls and serve.