This Book is a Keeper: Sandy Cooks to Prepare for 'Keepers' Events in March

By Sandy Koropp

I think I've figured out why I love Keepers the Cookbook so much. (Why did that phrasing remind me of "Kermit the Frog")?  Never mind.

It's because my family loves the chow so I feel like it was worth the cooking effort.

• You will love our "Keepers" tasting event at Prairie Path Books, too. The March 13 event sold out, so we've added another on March 27. Get all the details below.

It's true: I crossed the Great Soup Barrier and the Great Ancient Grains Barrier in one day.  You can too.  First, soup:  why do kids fear it?  Did they blister their tongue-tips on broth at some point?  Maybe they fear the soft unknown thingies floating around?

Who knows - but my first soup strategy was to serve ONLY my soup at dinner (well, some warm bread too).  Genius.  So, on to page 141 and Italian Wedding Soup.  You may remember that my husband's mother's name was Italia Troianello so cooking Italian can scare this Scot as I only ate oatmeal growing up.  Bear up, friends - this soup is not intimidating; it has only meatballs and spinach in it!

I know what you are thinking. You have barriers.  Your two mental barriers to making this meatball soup are:  "Iwe! Do I have to touch raw meat and eggs?" and "I bet I don't have the stuff to make it".

It's true - you must plan a wee bit ahead because you need meatball mix from the butcher (ground veal, beef and pork).  Once you have it, put it in a bowl with eggs, parmesan and minced onion, plus (shopping alert...) whole milk and some spices - and no more avoiding it, it's time:   you TOUCH IT.  But get over it because it's yummy and you will gain social status because you know how to make meatball soup now.  

Here are the deets:  you just smoosh all the meatball stuff with your hands (gently) and form little 1" balls of the meat mix.  Then you add the little buggers to broth you've bought in those box things,  or made*, and have set to simmer in a pot.  

Recipe rewind:  before you do the meatball mash, boil water and cook tiny pasta. (the cookbook calls for acini de pepe and my grocer didn't have it so I broke angel hair pasta into little pieces; also ingredient rewind, I didn't have whole milk so I mixed skim and half and half together).  The meatballs cook for 3-5 minutes in the broth and then you add a few handfulls of spinach and cook 1-2 minutes more. SOUP!  

I know, right?  Make the meatballs (5 minutes-ish), cook stuff in broth (5 minutes-ish).  Then you can say "I made soup last night for dinner" super casually to your friends and colleagues.

A great tip Keepers the Cookbook shares is:  for godssakes make a double batch of the meatballs and freeze them so you only have to undertake the mushy meatball mash and the shopping for weird stuff once.

And now for my broth confession: 

*I have to admit that I often have homemade chicken broth on hand.  Don't hate me - my frugal Scottish mother made me learn how to get a second meal out of the chicken bones.  It's so easy - and I am going to prove it by describing the whole procedure in this one sentence:

First take chicken bones from a chicken dinner or from one of those pre-roasted chicken in a box-with-a-handle thingies, put them in a big pot and cover with water 5-6 inches over the bones, then add whatevs veggies you have in that frig drawer you ignore such as 2-3 unpeeled carrots, [this is me gulping for breath because this is a long sentence] 1-2 stalks of celery and herbs you never used up, then add a quartered onion and 2 or 3 garlic cloves chopped in half and last add salt and pepper and simmer for 2-4 hours on low heat.  Whew.  Got it? Don't leave the broth simmering overnight because you forgot about it because it will be dried up in the morning.  I've never done that, a'course.  So here's a review:  Bones, water, old veggies and simmer (not boil!).  

You're stock is done except you need to strain it through a colander into a storage pot or Tupperware and put it in the frig.  Note to dog-owners:  get that chicken carcass out to the garbage because your dogs will go BATS if that yummy tangle of bones just sits inside your bin, taunting them.   

Last thing, skim the yellowy gooey chicken fat off of the chilled stock before you use it.  This fat is called "schmaltz" and there are cookbooks for how to use it.  Really. There's a great new Schmaltz cookbook I can recommend.  If you are a gravy maker, mix some schmaltz with flour and rub that into some stock you have heating for unbelievable chicken gravy.  THEN you can totally brag to friends and colleagues that you whipped up some gravy with schmaltz you had on hand. 

OK that was a GIANT digression so I will have to blog another time about my enormous Ancient Grain victory over my reluctant teens... that's right.  Farro.  They ate it....

Experience 'Keepers' With Us

March 27, 2014, 6:30 p.m.
Toms-Price Home Furnishings
303 Front Street in Wheaton, IL 60187 

Cost: $10    Order your tickets online!
Ticket price includes the meal we make, plus beverages. Space is limited to 12.

"We all need ‘Keepers’ in our life—brag-worthy, reliable, crowd-pleasing preparations that we confidently turn to again and again.”

Let’s find you and your family some Keepers at our premier cooking event! We will mingle and cook together, then taste our great results.

For more information about Prairie Path Books in Wheaton, visit us online. And be sure to "like" our Facebook page.