Kathryn Purcell via Gina Depalma via Secrets of the Best Chefs
SERVINGS: 6 TIME: ABOUT 1 hour
This soup is hearty and so good! It freezes well. You could easily make it vegetarian by skipping the sausage. And you could make it vegan by not using the sausage and romano cheese.
*8 ounces of sausage meat is roughly 2 links. I have used up to 4. Use as much or as little as you choose.
2 large links (about 8 ounces) of sweet Italian sausage [see Note] 1 medium onion, diced
2 celery ribs, sliced or diced
2 medium carrots, peeled and sliced into half-moons or diced
4 cloves garlic, sliced (reserve half for later in recipe)
Kosher salt
A pinch of crushed red pepper flakes (optional)
1 cup brown lentils, sorted and rinsed
2 bay leaves
1 28-ounce can crushed tomatoes
6 cups water
Freshly ground black pepper
3 to 4 cups shredded or thinly ribboned Swiss chard leaves or kale Grated Pecorino Romano cheese to finish
On the stove: Heat 1/4 cup olive oil (enough to generously coat bottom of pot) in a large pot on medium to medium-high heat. When hot, add the sausage, breaking it up with a wooden spoon until it starts to brown, about five minutes. Add the onion, celery, carrots, first two garlic cloves, a pinch of salt, and if you like your soup spicy, a pinch of red pepper flakes. Cook with the sausage until the vegetables soften a bit, another 5 minutes. Add the lentils, bay leaves, tomatoes, water (6 cups is, conveniently, a little less than 2 empty 28-ounce cans, so you can get any tomato pulp you missed), more salt and black pepper to taste. Bring to a simmer and allow to cook until the lentils are tender, about 40 minutes. (It might be necessary to add more water if the soup gets too thick, though we preferred ours on the thick side.)
When the lentils are cooked, add the chard and cook until the leaves are tender, just a few minutes more. Discard the bay leaves.
In an InstantPot or electric multicooker: Proceed as written above, using the sauté function on high (I find this to be like medium-high on a stove) to cook the sausage and then vegetables. Once you’ve added the remaining ingredients, including dried lentils, lock the lid and set to high pressure for 15 minutes. Let it naturally release for at least 10 minutes (or longer, if you have time), to help keep the vegetables intact. You can manually release the rest. Use the sauté function on high again to bring it back to a simmer (this should be take no time at all) and add the greens; cook until wilted.
Both methods: To finish, divide soup among bowls, then add the remaining 1/4 cup olive oil and 2 garlic cloves to a small skillet (on the stove) and heat over medium until the garlic softens and hisses. Drizzle this over soup bowls, and top with fresh Romano, passing more at the table. Leftovers will keep for several days in the fridge.
The smoked tuna dip and mussels were new recipes and both were great. Here’s a couple Xmas Eve photos and recipe for the mussels – great because you can make them totally ahead, pop them under the broiler when ready to serve and they’re super tasty.
Xmas eve mass… church asked everyone to take photos before mass started
posing girls
Owen was the Xmas Even entertainment
opening presents
Xmas jammies 2017
girl power
Mussels Stuffed with Spinach and Parmesan
Fine Cooking Issue 14
1 cup dry white wine
4 Tbs. finely chopped shallots
1 tsp. cracked black pepper
4 sprigs parsley
1 bay leaf
1/2 tsp. chopped fresh thyme (omit if fresh isn’t available)
28 medium mussels (about 2 lb.), sorted and cleaned
for the stuffing:
2 Tbs. butter or olive oil
2 cups lightly packed, washed, stemmed, and chopped fresh spinach
1/2 cup heavy cream
3 Tbs. chopped parsley
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
Combine the wine, 2 Tbs. of the shallots, pepper, parsley sprigs, bay leaf, and thyme in a pot (with a lid) large enough to accommodate the mussels when their shells have opened. Bring to a boil, add the mussels, cover, and steam until just opened, 2 to 3 minutes. Try not to steam the mussels longer than necessary, because they’ll be cooked again later. Remove the mussels with a slotted spoon and set aside. Strain the cooking liquid through a strainer lined with several layers of cheesecloth and reserve.
For the stuffing—Heat the butter in a heavy-based pan. Add the remaining shallots and cook until soft, 3 to 4 minutes. Add the spinach, cover, and cook briefly until the spinach wilts. Uncover and cook until the liquid from the spinach evaporates, another 3 to 4 minutes. Add 1/2 cup of the strained mussel liquid and cook until the mixture is almost dry, about 5 minutes. Add the cream and again cook until the mixture is almost dry, about 10 minutes. Add the chopped parsley and season to taste with salt and pepper; the mixture should be quite peppery.
Heat the broiler. Remove the mussels from their shells. Make a bed of rock salt or crumpled foil on a baking sheet (to steady the shells) and arrange as many half shells as you have mussel meats. Put a mussel meat on each half shell and spoon a teaspoonful of the spinach mixture over each. Top with the grated cheese and broil until golden and bubbly, 4 to 6 minutes. Serve with small forks and bread to soak up the rich juices
12/2017 note: I made a double batch – with about 4 lbs of smallish mussels – way over 100 – and two reg bags of fresh spinach. I ran out of spinach for the last bit so would make more spinach next time.
I have made this several times over the past years from the always reliable The New Basics. It’s a nice main dish for a crowd that you can make ahead of time. Our Christmas Eve theme was “stuffed” so this was perfect.
11/2025 comments: PJH: I tweaked this a bit and it is much better: I used a big costco flank steak. I butterflied it and then marinated it in Garlic Expressions for most of the day. I spread pesto (costco), then lots and lots of fresh spinach, prosciutto and then sliced provolone. Make sure when you stuff it the finished rolls are cut against the grain – not like the pictures below. I let it sit for quite a long time – 30 minutes or so. It was perfecto – the marinating makes a big difference.
Its not hard to butterfly a flank steak. Just have to go slow.
…on goes the prosciutto…
…roasted red peppers…
…and the pesto. I didn’t follow the recipe, I just used jarred pesto and added some breadcrumbs to thicken it up.
rolled up and ready to go
The finished product. I didn’t get a very good picture… was a bit busy with 28 people over for dinner.
Italian Stuffed Flank Steak
The New Basics Cookbook, Julee Rosso & Sheila Lukins
8 ounces fresh spinach, trimmed and well rinsed
1/c cup dried bread crumbs
½ cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
¼ cup olive oil
2 cloves garlic
3 red bell peppers, roasted
1 flank steak (about 1 ½ pounds), butterflied
Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
4 ounces thinly sliced prosciutto
1 fresh hot cherry pepper, cored, seeded, and minced
1. Preheat the over to 350°F.
2. Place the spinach in a saucepan with just the water that clings to the leaves. Cover, and cook over medium heat until wilted, 5 minutes. Drain in a colander, and press out the excess moisture with the back of a spoon.
3. Combine spinach, bread crumbs, Parmesan, olive oil, and garlic in a food processor and puree until thick and smooth. Transfer to a bowl.
4. Peel, core, and carefully seed the roasted peppers. Cut them in half.
5. Open the steak on a work surface, and season with salt and pepper. Arrange the prosciutto in one layer on the steak. Top with a layer of the roasted peppers. Then spread the spinach mixture over them, and sprinkle with the minced cherry pepper.
6. Starting with a long side, roll the steak up jelly-roll style. Tie it with string at 2-inch intervals, and brush with a little olive oil. Season with salt and pepper. Place steak in a shallow baking pan.
7. Bake 40 minutes for medium-rare. Cool slightly, or to room temperature, before slicing and serving.
4 to 6 portions
******
For Christmas Eve we also had stuffed shells, little twice baked potatoes, stuffed cabbage, roasted vegetables. Of course we had to have hanky pankies, made a nice smoked salmon spread, cheese and crackers and Sean made some nice bacon wrapped dates stuffed with goat cheese. Kirsten made cream puffs for dessert and Sophia dazzled all with her spectacular macarons that no one can get enough of.
½ lb. spinach, washed well and chopped (about 2 cups)
½ t. low salt alternative
16 oz. (2 cups) low-fat cottage cheese
4 oz. part-skim mozzarella, shredded (about 1 cup)
3 T. grated Parmesan
¼ cup chopped fresh parsley or 1 T. dried
2 eggs
¼ t. freshly ground black pepper
¼ t. salt, if desired
3 cups tomato sauce (homemade or canned)
8 oz. lasagna noodles, cooked al dente
In a large skillet, sauté the onion, garlic, and mushrooms in sherry and butter until the vegetables are soft.
Add the chopped broccoli, spinach, and salt. Stir to combine the ingredients, reduce the heat, cover the skillet, and simmer the mixture for about 5 minutes or until the broccoli is tender-crisp.
In a medium bowl, combine the cottage cheese, mozzarella, Parmesan, parsley, eggs, pepper, and salt.
In a baking pan approximately 13 x 9 x 2 inches, spread ½ cup of tomato sauce on bottom. Layer the lasagna ingredients as follows: Arrange three strips of lasagna noodles on the bottom. Spread half of the cheese mixture on noodles, then half of the vegetable mixture, and 1 cup of the tomato sauce. Repeat, starting from the noodles. End with a layer of noodles topped with the remaining ½ cup of tomato sauce. Sprinkle the top of the lasagna with additional Parmesan, if desired.
Bake the lasagna at 375 for 25 minutes. Let it stand for about 10 minutes before serving it.
Cook shells according to package directions. Mix the cheeses and spinach together and stuff the shells. Arrange in an oiled baking dish; pour Ragu over noodles. Bake at 350 for ½ hour.
Creamed Spinach
2 boxes frozen spinach
½ cup butter
2 T. flour
1 clove garlic, minced
1 pint heavy cream
salt and pepper
Cook spinach and drain VERY well. Melt butter in frying pan and sauté garlic. Stir in flour, add spinach and gradually add cream. Cook over low heat for approximately 10 minutes, stirring often. Season to taste.
Sauté onion and garlic in small amount of oil in large pot. Add spinach and cook down with the onion and garlic for a few minutes. Add the broth, salt, pepper, seasoned salt etc.. (Season well – yogurt will neutralize flavor). Add rice. Simmer for 20 minutes or until rice and spinach are tender. Turn off heat and let soup cool down to almost room temperature. Whisk the yogurt for a minute or two and slowly pour and mix into the soup. Reheat the soup slowly at low heat as the yogurt will curdle if brought to the boiling point. (If the yogurt does curdle, the soup is still good). Can also be eaten cold or at room temperature.
Preheat oven to 350. Heat the oil in a large nonstick skillet over med. Heat. Add the onion, salt and pepper. Cook until tender, 5 to 7 minutes. Remove from heat.
Squeeze the spinach to remove all of the liquid. Put the spinach in a food processor. Add the onion, ½ cup of the bread crumbs, smoked Gouda, Parmesan, egg, butter and nutmeg; process until completely combined and smooth.
Form 1 inch spheres with the spinach mixture and roll each sphere in the remaining ¾ cup bread crumbs to coat completely. Place on a foil, or parchment paper lined baking sheet. Bake until hot and lightly golden, about 10 minutes. Do not overcook or they will get dry.
Can be prepared and refrigerated up to 1 day in advance or frozen up to 1 week in advance. Let thaw before baking.
Eat On Edgecliff 