Italian Winter Green Soup
Barbs dad Marco was going to teach me how to make that Incredible soup he gifted us for lunch the other day - most of you would of seen it on my Instagram - it was very popular on the gram and in our stomaches!
Well he was sick in bed this weekend, so plans were put on hold... What the hell was I going to do with the obsession of that soup whirling around in my head?!?!
Make my own kind of the same, but not really, soup. That used all these delicious vegetables I had left over in my fridge from that beautiful box of fruit and vegetables I received this week.
And so I made a little bit of magic yesterday while the big stormy skies delivered me what I had been wishing for all day .. which made this soup taste even more magic than I had imagined.
SHOP IT:
1 red onion
1 stalk of celery
1 medium carrot
2 cloves of garlic
half a fresh chilli
THEN.......
1 piece of pancetta - remove the skin and cut into cubes
1 cup of short grain rice - arborio or similar - soaked in water for at least a few hours then strained
100g butter
1/4 cauliflower - cut into roughly the same size pieces as the broccoli stalk
the collection of stalks from all the broccoli we eat - 2 or 3 cut into small cubes
2 zucchini's - chopped again into small cubes
1/2 a bunch of kale, rainbow chard or spinach - chopped
1/2 a cup of fresh peas
the tops of half a head of broccoli - cut into the same size pieces
one leek bottom cut finely
1 cup of parmesan grated + the rind
HOW TO COOK IT:
first up we make the soffritto, which I do in the food processor
then get your pot - I use a large Le Creuset
fry off your pancetta with a little butter then add the soffritto and continue cooking until both are so intoxicating you can barely take anymore of the aromas
now add the following - broccoli stalks, cauliflower, leek and half the zucchini, these vegetables can cook longer without turning terrible colours and making your soup look ugly but also making it taste incredible!
add your 2L of Love and Bones Broth and seasoning....salt & pepper
put the lid of and cook for an hour on a very lowest of temps
after the hour check your soup, check your seasoning, add more salt and pepper if needed remembering the parmesan will also add salt to the finished soup
now add the rind of the parmigiano reggiano and cook for a further 30mins then add the rest of your veg and the soaked strained rice
lid on and cook until the rice is tender and the vegetables are cooked - remove parmesan skin
and serve with olive oil and parmesan cheese pipping hot!
This is somewhere in between a very wet risotto or a very think soup, whatever it is delicious!
ALL RECIPES AND PHOTOS PROPERTY OF MICHELLE SCHOEPS AKA THE BROTH LADY
©Michelle Schoeps 2021
©Love and Bones Broth 2021