Ricotta Ball Soup
Ingredients
- 3-4 stalks celery, chopped fine
- 1 medium onion, chopped fine
- 1 stick butter or margerine
- 2-3 cubes chicken bouillon (optional)
- 3-4 quarts water
- 1 pound ricotta cheese
- 1/2 pound finely grated parmesan cheese (or Romano)
- 1 egg
- 1 1/2 to 2 cups fine dry bread crumbs
- garlic salt or powder to taste
- fresh ground black pepper to taste
- 1 handful dry basil
- 1 tsp dry marjoram
Instructions
Mix together the two cheeses, egg, bread crumbs and seasonings. The mixture should be fairly hard and dry. Form into balls about 1" in diameter--or slightly larger. Set aside. In a heavy soup pot - about 8 quarts--melt the butter. When it begins to sizzle, add the onion and celery and saute for a few minutes until the onion just starts to turn translucent. Add the bullion and the water and bring to a boil. Gently drop the cheese balls into the boiling water. Boil until the balls come to the top of the pot. If --**horrors**-- the balls should come apart and the cheese spreads across the top of the soup, you have made them much too soft and need to add more bread crumbs to the mixture. I would only drop one ball into the soup to make sure it will stay together before adding the rest. These only take a about 4-5 minutes to cook and this makes a very yummy soup served with fresh Vienna bread and a tossed salad--Great!
