Cornmeal Soup

Cornmeal is a food of dried and ground maize. Maize is more commonly called "corn" in North America. Native Americans often used ground or mashed maize in various ways, and the European settlers picked up on this handy product, that when dried, was easy to keep and easy to use to make porridge, soup, "pudding"* or bread. European explorers and traders took the durable product back to Europe, where its ground version joined other ground grains and established a foothold in Italy, where it is called "polenta." Italian immigrants took their recipes for polenta to their new homes in other lands, including to the New World, where they supplemented the existing use of cornmeal by the addition of cheese.

The basic soup recipe was given to me by my friend Gustavo, who is from Brazil. He is an "FOF;" that is, "a friend of Fernando" (private joke). His mother makes the soup, and I put my own touches to it. If you don't like "spicy heat," you can leave out the chili peppers, or remove the seeds and just use the flesh of one chili; one seeded chili in 6 cups of broth is not likely to add very much kick, at all. Also, using bouillon, soup base or store bought broth usually means a high salt content, so that will be the salt for the soup, and you will not need to add more salt. There are some chicken soup bases without salt, so you can always consider one of those, if you watch your salt intake. The thing is, you want to use some kind of broth, as plain water will make the soup bland. I make this soup often, and recently as I made the soup, I was also following an important show on television and I inadvertently left out the soup base. I merrily continued on my way and when I sat down to eat, I said, "Hm, damn this is bland!" I promptly sprinkled on some more cheese, but that didn't really help. Then I realized I had forgotten the soup base. DUH! I added a little base and all was well. Just in time to see Bugs Bunny escape from Elmer Fudd! Hey, I told you I was watching an important show.         

Ingredients (for about 4 servings):

6 cups water or chicken broth or water with chicken bouillon or chicken soup base
4 cloves garlic, chopped
4 green onions, chopped
2/3 cup kale (no large stems)
(optional) 1 to 3 jalapeño or serrano chili peppers
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
2/3 cup cornmeal
4 eggs
grated or shaved Parmesan or Romano cheese for topping each serving
extra virgin olive oil for drizzling on each serving

Put the broth, garlic, onion, kale and chili peppers (if using) into a nonstick large skillet over medium heat and bring it to a simmer; simmer for 2 to 3 minutes. Using a skillet makes it easier to add and cook the eggs, as a sauce pan may be too narrow to maneuver, unless you're fixing just 1 or 2  servings, but use your own judgment. GRADUALLY add the cornmeal, whisking or stirring constantly to avoid lumps (otherwise you'll have little cornmeal dumplings). Stir in the black pepper. The soup should have some body to it, but it should still be very fluid; this is not porridge. Carefully add one egg at a time to the hot soup (I use a spatula to prevent the eggs from sticking to the bottom). After about a minute, you can turn off the heat and let the eggs finish poaching in the soup. If you like fully cooked yolks, you don't have to be so careful about the eggs, but I like runny yolks. Carefully ladle the eggs and soup into individual serving bowls. Sprinkle a little grated cheese or cheese shavings onto the top of each serving, then drizzle on some extra virgin olive oil.

* The term "pudding" may confuse many Americans, as we typically think of pudding as a milk-based kind of custard, or cornstarch thickened flavored milk dessert, often flavored with chocolate or vanilla, but with other flavors, too. In England and other parts of Britain, puddings can mean a dish of meat, spices and fruit boiled or steamed until solidified into a loaf or sausage.

Before I added the cheese and olive oil. You can see the egg yolk and part of the egg white.

I used a mix of Parmesan, Romano and Asiago cheeses

WORD HISTORY:
Palace-The ultimate origins of this word are uncertain, with one suggestion being that it goes back to Latin "palus," the ancestor of English "pale;" that is, as in "fence pale, stake." ^ The idea is that "pales" connect to make a fence; thus, an enclosure, but whether this is the basis of the word "palace" is more than a little uncertain, in my opinion. One of the seven hills of Rome was called "Mons Palatinus," but why that name was used is not really known, although the suggestion that it was based on an existing Etruscan word, "falad," which meant "sky," makes some sense.^^ Anyway, "Mons Palatinus" was part of the original settlement of what became Rome, and later Emperor Augustus had his residence there, and other wealthy Romans also lived there, thus giving the idea to such residences as "palaces." "Palatinus" later became "Palatium," still meaning the hill in Rome, but later it became "palatium," with the meaning, "residence of an emperor or high official." This later became "palacium," and it passed into Latin-based Old French as "palais," and English borrowed the word in the first part of the 1200s as, "palice/palesse."     

^ The noun "pale" is a Latin-derived word borrowed by English from French. It is not related to "pale" meaning, "light in color," another word borrowed by English and coincidentally of the same spelling. 

^^  Etruscan is a mystery language, but it was "possibly" related to some languages of the Aegean Sea area, including "Minoan." Etruscan was spoken in a fairly large part of what is now Italy, but it eventually died out when Latin came to the area, although some of its words were borrowed into Latin.