A Soup Only Tuscany Could Make
By Mark Bittman
When you've gained enough experience cooking, you're quite likely
to "invent" a recipe that already exists in cuisines and even
cookbooks. Especially if the ingredients are common, the techniques
standard.
But not this recipe. The ingredients are fairly common, but their
combination is not the kind of thing a non-Italian, or perhaps even
a non-Tuscan, would put together while experimenting.
I found it in a restaurant, Antica Fattoria del Grottaione, in
Montenero d'Orcia in Tuscany. This dish spoke to me. Named for the
town in which it originated, Arcidosso, it's dense, thick and dark,
almost a stew. It makes fantastic use of stale bread, sausage,
ricotta salata, carrots and spinach, somehow extracting the maximum
flavor (and texture, especially in the case of the croutons) from
each while blending them perfectly. It uses no stock, only water.
I had never eaten anything quite like it, and my chances of creating
this combination in my kitchen are about the same as that monkey
typing Shakespeare. Which, in my book, makes it a pretty valuable
recipe.
Zuppa Arcidossana
=================
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/4 pound sweet Italian sausage, removed from casings
1 cup 1/2-inch-diced carrots
1 large onion, chopped
3 or 4 cloves garlic, chopped
Salt and black pepper
1 cup stale bread (use coarse, country-style bread), cut in
1/2-inch cubes
1/2 pound spinach, trimmed, washed and roughly chopped
1/4 to 1/2 cup ricotta salata, cut in 1/2-inch cubes (feta may
be substituted)
1/4 cup freshly chopped parsley, optional
Put oil in a large pot or deep skillet and brown sausage over
medium-low heat, stirring occasionally. When sausage is cooked
through and leaving brown bits in pan, add carrots, onion and garlic,
and continue to cook until vegetables begin to soften and brown,
about 10 minutes. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.
Add bread to pan and stir for a minute or 2; add spinach and
continue cooking just until it wilts, a couple of minutes.
Add about 2 cups water and stir to loosen any remaining brown bits
from pan. This is more of a stew than a soup, but there should be
some broth, so add another cup of water if necessary. When broth is
consistency of thin gravy, ladle stew into serving bowls and top
with cheese and some freshly chopped parsley if you have it. Serve
immediately.
~To get something you never had, you have to do something you never did.
-Sugar
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