My current obsession is with noodle bowls. There are so many great restaurants in our area offering many different types.
The cold winter months have me jonesing for bowls and bowls of these delicious, cozy, and nourishing soups; I just can't get enough!
Although noodle bowls are mostly part of Asian cuisine, I wanted to create a few different Italian-inspired noodle bowls.
Here are 3 different recipes for Italian noodle bowls. Each recipe consists of a full-flavored broth, Talluto's egg noodles, fresh vegetables, and added protein. The first two use my favorite store-bought broths while the third features a homemade stock made from scratch.
I have found that noodle bowls can be a quick well-balanced meal easily made on a busy night or they can be something that is lovingly created from scratch and cooked for hours. Layers of big flavors, different textures, and homemade noodles make them fun to eat. Whichever you choose, I hope that you enjoy these recipes and I encourage you to experiment with different ingredients for yourself.
Crispy Prosciutto and Parmigiano Italian Noodle Bowl <RECIPE HERE
In this recipe, I used a basic store-bought chicken broth. I added the end rind of a piece of Reggiano Parmigiano cheese. I also added the skin or a piece of prosciutto ham and a sprig of fresh rosemary to the broth and allowed it to simmer for about 15-20 minutes. These few ingredients added such wonderful flavor to the store-bought chicken broth.
The noodle that I chose to use in this recipe is called tonnarelli or pasta alla chitarra. (of the guitar) We cut the noodles the same width as our spaghetti but the pasta is slightly thicker. It is made this way intentionally to mimic home-style noodles that are cut using a chitarra. (seen below)
photo credit: Fantes Cookware shop www.fantes.com
In my opinion, egg tonnarelli are the perfect noodle for this soup. Crispy baked prosciutto slices, fresh arugula, Parmigiano cheese, and cracked black pepper complete this noodle bowl.
Vegetable Noodle Bowl <RECIPE HERE
In this recipe, I chose to use Talluto's Egg Capellini Angel Hair pasta. I like the thinness and the delicateness of these noodles to accompany all of the fresh vegetables in the soup. You can add any combination of your favorite vegetables to this noodle bowl.
Keeping with Italian tradition, I made and added strips of egg scrippelle to the broth. Scrippelle is similar to a thin egg omelet. It is usually seasoned with freshly chopped herbs and grated pecorino Romano cheese. I thought that this was a nice addition of protein that may appeal to the vegetarian palate.
I used my favorite store-bought vegetable broth in this recipe.
Tuscan Kale and Shrimp Noodle Bowl <RECIPE HERE
Egg Tonnarelli noodles are used again in this bowl. I used large gulf shrimp as the protein and made the broth from scratch using the shells from the shrimp. It is a simply seasoned broth. The trick is that you need to allow the shells to cook in the liquid for about 3 hours. It takes that long to fully develop and extract the shrimp flavor from the shells. I find satisfaction in creating great flavors when making it from scratch but, you could also use a good store-bought shrimp stock for this recipe. I prepared the Tuscan kale by slicing it thinly and quickly sautéed it with just a touch of olive oil, some chopped garlic, and a pinch of salt. Layer all of these great ingredients in your bowl and pour the piping hot shrimp broth over top. Oh, one last thing! If you like it spicy, I highly recommend adding a touch of chopped Calabrian chili peppers in oil. This is one of my favorite condiments and I find myself adding it to many dishes. We do sell it in our Talluto retail stores. Enjoy!
-Joanne Talluto Brown 