LiveSTRONG With a Taste of Yellow 2008 - Stracciatella

Barbara from Winos and Foodies is once again hosting LiveSTRONG Day - A Taste of Yellow. This event is to support cancer sufferers, to remember those who were claimed by cancer, and to celebrate those who have won the fight. To participate, all you need to do is to make a dish with a yellow element and post about it by 19 April 2008. (There is also a photo competition, details of which are contained at the link above.)

While I have not yet been personally affected by cancer, I have plenty of friends and acquaintances who have, and their stories are often both heartbreaking and uplifting. Accordingly, I want to support this cause by participating in Barbara's event.

For my A Taste of Yellow entry, I have chosen to make stracciatella, a yellow Italian soup, with parmesan toasts. Soup always reminds me of care and healing, so I thought that it would be perfect for this event. The recipe that I followed is from page 82 of the April 2007 edition of Australian Gourmet Traveller.

To make this dish, which serves 4, you need:

2 eggs
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
1 tablespoon chopped flat leaf parsley
1 litre chicken stock
1 teaspoon saffron threads soaked in 1/2 cup warm water

4 slices baguette/ciabatta or similar bread
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese

For the soup, whisk the eggs, parsley and cheese together in a bowl. Bring the stock to the boil over the stovetop, and add the saffron mixture. Pour the egg mixture into the stock in a slow, constant stream, while stirring the stock constantly, then decrease the heat and simmer the soup for 2 minutes. Finally, add salt and pepper to taste.

To make the toasts, drizzle the oil over the bread, sprinkle with parmesan and pepper to taste, then toast in a 200 degree Celsius oven until the cheese has melted and the bread has turned a golden colour.

Serve each bowl of hot soup with a slice of warm parmesan toast.

To be honest, I didn't like this soup. However, I am still posting about it because: (a) firstly and most importantly, the fact that I didn't like my choice of dish does not detract from my support for LiveSTRONG Day; (b) someone else might make stracciatella and love it; and (c) it would be totally unbelievable if I told you that I liked everything that I made.

Thanks and best wishes to Barbara in respect of her organisation and hosting of A Taste of Yellow, and please check Barbara's site for the amazing roundup (180 entries!!!) here and here. And congratulations to Helene of Tartlette on wininng the photo competition - a very worthy winner.