“With a little bit of this & a little bit of that”

• One Gourd long Gourd or two small ones
• A large bunch of Gourd Leaves enough to fill a large salad bowl
• Two cups of celery
• One large white onion
• Two cups of sweet peas
• Two cups of diced green beans
• One tablespoon of Kosher salt
• Tree cloves of Garlic
• Three diced tomatoes without the outer skin
• One pound of chopped linguine
• Six large leaves of Bail chopped
• Pepper
• Reggiano Parmiggiano grated cheese to taste

Little Porpertine:

• ½ pound of 95% lean ground round ( turkey or chicken is optional)
• 1 ½ bread crumbs ( I use Progress Italian Style Bread Crumbs)
• Two fists of grated parmesan cheese
• ¼ cup of dry parsley or fresh
• One egg
• ¼ Cup of water
• Four cloves of garlic minced

Vegetable Preparation:
This dish is very simple to cook, once all the ingredients are ready. This soup is great with the meatballs or without. I also love mixing in lentils, dry peas & lima beans. Awesome with fava bean!!
You must remove all the gourd leaves from the stems and wash them carefully along with the gourd. Remove a thin layer of skin from the gourd and chopped them into small pieces. Cut gourd leaves, celery, beans & onions into small pieces as well.

Small Meatballs:
In a separate bowl prepare the small meatballs. Combine ground beef, bread crumbs, grated cheese, minced garlic, & parsley. I usually like to blend the meat well with all the ingredients before I mix in the egg and water. Once meat is well mixed with everything I wet my hands in a small bowl of water and make small little meat balls.

Fill half way up a large spaghetti pot with water and bring to a boil. Once water is boiling combine vegetables, peas, celery, salt and stir. Once the water comes to a boil again throw in the small meatballs. Let everything cook for about one hour. If some of the water evaporates keep adding water. I usually shut down the soup, once all the vegetables have liquefied. So sometimes it may take a little longer, depending on the type of flame you have. Once the soup is ready, I make a marinara sauce to blend in with the vegetable once the pasta is ready.

Marinara Sauce:
I blanch three large plum tomatoes in a bowl of boiling hot water for about 1 ½ minute. This process helps you to remove the skin of the tomatoes. Chop the tomatoes in very small pieces. In a small frying pan sauté minced garlic in three tablespoons of olive oil. Once garlic starts to color add in the tomatoes & chopped basil. Add pepper to taste. Let the sauce cook for five minutes. Then pour into soup.
Now you can either boil the soup and cook the chopped linguine in it, or you can cook the linguine separately & then mix in with the soup. It all depends on how much your soup has cooked down.
I serve the soup with grated reggiano parmiggiano.
Buon Appetito
Ciao
Teresa

Teresa Vitale
Tav Designs
Canaltown Studios and Art Trails Blog
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