Stracciare means “to rip to shreds” in Italian, and, indeed, that is how this soup looks after you’ve stirred some beaten eggs with some grated cheese into a good chicken broth. Once you have a good chicken broth, the rest is easy. Stracciatella is usually served with shredded spinach and beaten egg, but I recall having it with just egg and cheese when spinach was not in season. In the Italy that I grew up in, seasons made a difference, not only in how we dressed, but in what we ate. This is a great restorative soup, served in most Italian families.
Recipe information
Yield
serves 6
Ingredients
Preparation
Step 1
Bring the stock to a simmer in a medium pot with 1 teaspoon salt. Once stock is simmering, add the spinach and cook until tender, about 3 minutes.
Step 2
Whisk together the eggs, grated cheese, remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt, and freshly ground black pepper to taste in a medium bowl.
Step 3
When the spinach is tender, add about a third of the egg mixture to the soup, continuously whisking, to make shreds of eggs. Add remaining eggs in two more batches, letting the soup return to a boil between additions. Once all of the eggs have been added, bring the soup to a final boil, and use the whisk to break up any large clusters of eggs. Serve the soup with the additional grated cheese.
