Serves 6

Notes

Stracciare means “to rip to shreds” in Italian, and, indeed, that is how this soup looks after stirring some beaten eggs with some grated cheese in 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 a great restorative soup, used in most Italian families.

Ingredients

  • 8 cups defatted homemade chicken stock (recipe)
  • 1 1/4 teaspoons kosher salt
  • 4 cups packed spinach leaves, shredded
  • 4 large eggs
  • 1/3 cup grated Grana Padano, plus more for serving
  • Freshly ground black pepper
Lidia’s Italy in America

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Lidia’s Italy in America

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Directions

1. In a medium pot, bring stock to a simmer with 1 teaspoon salt. Once stock is simmering, add spinach and cook until tender, about 3 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, whisk together eggs, grated cheese, remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt and some freshly ground black pepper to taste. 

3. Once spinach is tender, add about 1/3 of the egg mixture to the soup, while continuously whisking, to make shreds of eggs. Add remaining eggs in 2 more batches, letting the soup return to a boil between additions. Once all of the eggs have been added, bring soup to a final boil and use the whisk to break up any large clusters of eggs. Serve soup with additional grated cheese.

Lidia’s Italy in America

Cookbook

Lidia’s Italy in America

Buy now