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Soup recipe made into a banquet

This soup recipe is in fact a two-course meal. It's a sumptuous dish made with four different meats, vegetables, just a handful legumes, pasta or rice, and our unique egg-shaped large meatball.


	Soup recipe

The Escudella and carn d'olla is a very old Catalan dish that fed people for centuries. In a cold winter, this restorative soup will warm your body and your soul.

It used to be the cure-all when someone was ill, fainted or felt discouraged.

Escudella is Catalan for both bowl and this soup recipe; carn means meat and olla is pot, so: Meat from the pot.

In its most splendid version, and with the very large shell pasta we call galets, it's the most traditional Christmas dinner appetizer in all Catalan-speaking countries. Here I give you a middle intensity soup recipe suitable for any day.

Don't be afraid to modify the quantities according to your needs. Or even the ingredients in certain instances. But do your best to keep the balance of the flavors.

I also have my preferences. For example, I tend to make a very large meatball, because everybody seems to love it. It disappears in no time. However, traditionally, you use about half the amount of ground meat I give here.

The list of ingredients is long, but it's not complicated. In fact, this soup recipe is not difficult at all.

As this soup recipe has to cook a few hours, it isn't a dish for every day any more. However, once ready the broth keeps well in the refrigerator for two or three days. You only have to boil the noodles every time.

Ingredients for this soup recipe

Serves 6

Meats for the broth

1 pound (½ kg) veal rib or leg, or other bone-in veal meat
1 piece of lamb ribs – about 9 ounces (250 g)
½ hen, halved – If the hen is very big, ¼ will do. Replace with chicken if you don't have hen
1 breast quarter of chicken
5 ounces (150 g) pancetta or (non-smoked) bacon - cut into 2 thick slices
1 small pig's foot – halved
1 or 2 veal bones, if possible with the marrow – about 1 pound (500 g)
2 botifarra negra sausages, about ½ pound (250 g) or blood sausage without rice

Vegetables for the broth

1 small turnip - peeled
2 big carrots – cleaned
1 parsnip - peeled
1 leek – use only the white part
½ green cabbage, – discard the outer leaves
3 ribs of celery with the leaves, or 2 ribs Chinese celery
4 medium-sized potatoes, new, yellow varieties are the best - peeled and quartered

Other ingredients for this soup recipe

7 ounces (200 g) dried chick peas - soaked
5 ounces (150 g) dried white beans - soaked

10 ounces (300 g) galets or lumaconi, or conchiglioni, or other large shell pasta. Alternatively, use ½ cup (100 g) thick fideus or fideos or fedelini (fidelini) broken into 2-inch (5 cm) pieces and ½ cup (100 g) round rice

For the pilota or large meat ball

1 pound (½ kg) ground meat - for this soup recipe, the best is to mix half pork half veal, it gives it more consistency, otherwise only pork
1 garlic clove – peeled and minced
1 sprig flat parsley – minced
1 egg – lightly beaten
1 pinch cinnamon powder
1 pinch black pepper
1 tablespoon breadcrumbs
Salt

Flour

Soup recipe preparation method

Preparation time: 30 minutes.
Cooking time: 3:30 hours.

Soak the chick peas and the white beans in water overnight in two separate bowls with salt and a teaspoon of soda. In the morning, when you are ready to start the soup recipe, drain them and set them aside.

Rinse the meats and bones to remove any remaining blood that could darken the broth.

Add 6 quarts of good quality cold water to a large soup pot. Add all meats and bones except the sausages and the ground meat. Bring to a boil, and boil covered over medium-low fire for 1 hour. Skim as necessary.

In the meantime make the pilota or large meatball. Lightly beat the egg. Add the ground meat to a cutting board or another surface. Make a well and put the egg, garlic, parsley, cinnamon, pepper, breadcrumbs and salt. Work all ingredients together with your hands to integrate them thoroughly.

Form it into an oval zeppelin or egg shape. Place some flour in a plate and make the meatball jump a few times. This gives it consistency. Flour the pilota and set aside.

Add the chick peas and continue boiling covered for another hour.

Add the dry beans, carrots, parsnip, turnip and leek and cook for 1 more hour.

Add the cabbage leaves, the celery, the potatoes, the sausages, the floured pilota and salt. Cook for 30 more minutes. Adjust salt if necessary.

Remove from heat. Strain out most of the broth into another soup pot. Let the meats and vegetables in the original pot, covered, in the remaining hot broth.

Bring the drained broth to a boil, add galets or another large shell pasta. Bring to a boil again, and cook until the pasta is very tender, not al dente

Instead of shell pasta, you can also add rice and fideus or other short thick noodles

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