Minestra Maritata

Minsestra Maritata. Or the closest to my Mother's recipe that I could find.The recipe is from Cooking with Guiseppe. A perfect soup for a cold January night. This is a meal I grew up eating. My Mom would add beans to this but I decided not to. I used Kielbasa, Pork Ribs, Short Ribs, and Chicken. Instead of water for the broth, I used homemade chicken stock. If you make this recipe do not forget the most important thing. You have to serve it with a lot of Italian Bread!

Minestra Maritata

When my Mom started to forget things, I sat her down and wrote down her recipes. I got her recipe for Minestra Maritata but that piece of paper has disappeared. I am sure it will turn up some day, but until then I am searching for something that comes close to her recipe for Minestra Maritata. This recipe is pretty close. Time consuming? Yes. Saturday was the perfect day to make this. I put eight ziplock bags of this in the freezer! And it was good. But there was one comment. Chris remarked that he remembered having this at my apartment before we were married. That was my Mom's. Those amazing CARE packages she sent over! And he remembered the pieces of meat being larger. Yes, she did add ribs.... After we get through these 8 bags of Minestra Maritata I will make a batch hopefully closer to what we both remember.
Click here for this recipe.

Minestra Maritata

When I growing up my mom use to make a large pan of Minestra. We would eat Minestra for at least 3 nights in a row, it was one of my Dad's favorites. Sunday I made a large pan of Minestra. We will be eating this for dinner for at least 2 nights, I will freeze the rest.

I love this recipe. It is the closest to my mom's recipe that I have found. For meat I purchased a Prosciutto end at the deli, some sweet chicken sausage, hot pork sausage, salami, mortadella, chicken legs and chicken thighs. I added some Parmesan rinds that I had in the freezer. The recipe is from Cooking with Guiseppe. The result was a delicious bowl of the perfect soup for a cold January night.

Minestra Maritata

Or as I like to call it - the stuff that dreams are made of!
This is the food that I grew up on. Minestra Maritata, Pasta Fagioli, Baked Macaroni, Chicken Cutlets. Nothing was processed. My big treat was a TV dinner once in a while. Morton's Fried Chicken Dinner, with the mashed potatoes and peas and carrots! Wow I loved that.

I guess I was very lucky to have a mom who made sure she knew exactly what we were eating. And she was frugal. When we had Minstra or Pasta Fagioli we had it for a number of nights. Which we will be doing this week!

I used the recipe from Cooking with Giuseppe, who cooks just like my mom did. This recipe results in what is the closest to my mom's minestra that I have found. I used escarole and kale and a beef shank, sausage and prosciutto ends. And I also added cannelini beans.

And of course always afraid it might not be enough I made a stuffed bread. Stuffed with Steak, onion and cheese... Kind of a Philly Cheese Bread, hold the peppers!

Minestra Maritata

About a week ago I was checking out food blogs and I stopped in my tracks. There was a photo of a bowl of Minestra that looked exactly like what my mom use to make. I was very happy because I did not have a copy of her recipe.
I used a beef shank, pork spare ribs and a nice end piece of prosciutto. The greens were escarole and swiss chard. It tasted just like my mom's.
I am so glad I found this recipe on Cooking with Giuseppe. And I was glad I could share with Chris a dish that I grew up eating.