One of the things I like the most about living in Spain are the fabulous
school lunches. Nico goes to a public school and everyday he eats a
two-course meal (prepared in the school's own kitchen) that includes all
kinds of healthily prepared fish, meats, fruits and vegetables. Not
once have I seen pizza, hotdogs, hamburgers or chicken nuggets on the
menu. A few samples from this month's menu:
Menu 1- Spanish lentils, breaded
bonito (similar to tuna but better), green salad, milk and seasonal
fruit.
Menu 2- Valencian paella, eggs with "salsa de la cazadora" (sauce
of the huntress??), mushrooms and bacon, water and yogurt.
Menu 3- Braised
swiss chard, filets of hake, fresh corn and tomato salad, milk and
seasonal fruit.
All the menus are given to parents at the
beginning of the month with suggestions printed on the back of each day
for what to prepare for dinner at home to make up a balanced diet.
The
methods (at least in Nico's Madrid school) of getting the kids to eat
are a bit harsher than anything I can imagine going on in any American
school. When Nico was in P3 (three-year olds), each child was forced to
take three bites of each dish and if they refused to do it, they'd have
to go sit at the "baby table."
I'm not sure how I feel about
this. When I first heard about it I was quite horrified and I know there
were a few kids in his class who really suffered under these
conditions. On the other hand, I saw that Nico's dietary horizons
expanded tremendously after only a few months. Thanks to his school
lunches, he has learned to love fish, salad and probably any number of
other things that I'm not even aware of.
Until last week, one
dish in particular was a mystery to me. For the past several months Nico
would always talk about a certain lunch that he particularly loved
which he referred to as "bottom soup." Nowhere on the menu was there any
mention of bottoms so I found this a bit confusing. The other day
though in the supermarket, we passed a jar of chickpeas and Nico pointed
at them and said, "Oh look mommy, bottoms!" Aha....
I decided
that since he loved it so much, I too would make bottom soup. Of course
he told me that my rendition of the soup was NOT AT ALL WHAT HE WAS
TALKING ABOUT but he ate it. Personally I thought it was delicious and
super easy to make.
Here is my recipe (inspired by Penne and
Chickpea soup from Cook's Illustrated).
Bottom Soup
Ingredients
-1/4 cup olive oil
-4
oz finely chopped bacon
-4 medium garlic cloves (minced)
-1
teaspoon dried rosemary (or a tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary)
-5
cups of tiny little bottoms, er um, chickpeas (frozen, jarred, canned,
whatever)
-10 oz frozen package of spinach
-2 14 oz. cans of chopped tomatoes
-3 cups of chicken stock
-2
cups of water
-salt and pepper to taste.
1. Heat olive oil
in soup kettle. Add bacon and sauté until browned.
2. Add garlic and
rosemary and sauté a couple minutes until fragrant.
3. Add tomatoes,
chickpeas, spinach (I just threw in the frozen hunk), chicken stock and
water.
4. Bring to a boil. Turn down and simmer for at least 45
minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste.
Serve with good bread and
butter. CI also recommends grating some Pecorino Romano cheese over the
soup but I thought it was tasty enough without.
Bottom soup sounds delicious and healthy thanks for the recipe I will try it myself
Regards Sam
Posted by: Samantha@Living In The Sun | May 25, 2010 at 08:59 AM