Stracciatella

I actually do cook food other than soups, but somehow soup seems to be the only thing I am motivated to write about.  Soon, it will be too swelteringly hot in my apartment to make soup, so please bear with me.  Alas, I present you with one more soup recipe: straciatella.  The recipe is the result of highly impromptu cooking.  Straciatella is a combination of chicken noodle and egg drop soup with an Italian flair.  I have been thinking about making it for a bit.  When it crossed my mind again this morning, I realized I had almost all of the ingredients already, including these darling, teeny, tiny star shaped noodles.  I bought them over two months ago, and I have been stewing over the perfect recipe to utilize them in.  Every time I open my kitchen cabinet and lay eyes on them, I find myself sighing dreamily.  They are just that cute.  Straciatella was the perfect excuse to eat them by the heaping spoonful.

In brief, my straciatella is a broth-based soup with the aforementioned noodles.  Before serving, an egg beaten with parmesan cheese is streamed into the soup, creating tender cheesy, eggy strands thoughout the hot broth.  I added carrots to the soup to flavor to the canned broth, and to prevent monotonous texture.  I seasoned it with cayenne, dried parsley, and black pepper.  Yum.

Stracciatella:

 - Bring 5 cups reduced sodium chicken broth to a simmer, and add 2 diced carrots and 2 whole cloves of garlic.  Season broth with a healthy dash of cayenne pepper, freshly ground pepper, and a tablespoon of dried parsley.
 - Allow carrots to simmer for 10 minutes, or until they start to become tender.  Add a half cup stelline (star-shaped) pasta.  Allow soup to simmer until the pasta is tender.
 - In the meantime, beat together one egg and 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese.  Season with black pepper.
 - When pasta and carrots are tender, reduce the heat until the soup is at a bare simmer.  Stir in egg mixture slowly so that strands of egg form.  Remove garlic cloves.  Garnish soup with extra parmesan and pepper, and enjoy.