Straciatella

This is a delicious Roman-style soup that is the Italian equivalent of Chinese restaurant staple egg-drop soup. The word straciatella means "rags" and it conjures up the way the ingredients in this soup look. It's usually made with chicken broth, but can easily be made with vegetable broth for those who do not eat meat. However, I would not recommend beef or fish broth as a substitute.

It's a fabulous first course, or side dish to a lunch-time salad. But it's definitely not rich enough for a full meal unless you have a very small appetite :)

The basic recipe is so simple:

Bring 4 cups of broth to a simmer.
Beat 3 eggs together with 1/2 cup of grated parmigiana cheese and 1/4 teaspoon of fresh cracked black pepper.

Slowly drizzle the egg and cheese mixture into the hot broth, whisking as you go. It'll "set" pretty quickly and be ready to serve in about 3 minutes. And this is soup that should be served just as soon as it's done.

For variations, you could add chopped spinach or escarole to the soup as well. Simply saute them in a little bit of olive oil and add to the soup right before serving.