Split Pea Soup, anyone? So far this month, we have made Italian Wedding Soup, Mushroom Beef Barley Soup, and now Split Pea. I think there is still time for Minestrone, Avgolemono and Sixteen Bean, don’t you?? When the grill is covered in snow and the ducks have fled the pond, it’s time for dishes that warm your kitchen and your belly: lasagna, red sauce, short ribs, roasted chicken, pulled pork and SOUP. (Spoiler alert: short ribs and lasagna are coming here later this week.) Soup is such a wonderful mother-of-all-foods. It can be hot, cold, sweet, sour, savory, starchy, clear, creamy, hearty, vegan, meaty, fishy, tomato-y, fruity… anything! Soup can be anything and is often everything you need, right in one bowl. I keep a couple loaves of roasted garlic ciabatta in the freezer, so I can pull one out and pop it into the oven whenever my soup calls for a crusty heel in hand to mop up, or “dienge” the last drops from the bowl.
This word, “dienge” (deenj). It’s not really a “word,” but more of a “Calvano-ism,” which is the dialect that my Italian-American family created when there was nothing in either language (Italian or English) that would do the job. So, the next time you are mopping or sopping (you can see how those words don’t feel good in this context) the last half inch of sauce or soup from your bowl with a bit of bread, you can know that in my house, you are dienging, and you are doing it just right.