soup

onion and fava bean soup / zuppa di cipolle e fave

| Simona

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[versione in italiano]

onion and fava bean soup / IMG_5143

simplicity at its best

Our current Cook the Books Club selection is the novel Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus1 which tells the story of Elizabeth Zott, a research chemist in California in the early 1960's, who becomes the host of a cooking show.

Rowing plays a role in the book, referred to mostly as a a source of physical discomfort, if not downright suffering. I thought I would balance out that perspective with a photo I took recently while rowing on Richardson Bay (an arm of San Francisco Bay). I captioned it: for this is why I row.



Based on the length of the library's waiting list, the book is popular. A light reading.

Besides dishes prepared during the show, there are others mentioned in the book: none sparked my imagination. On the other hand, this is the time of year when fresh fava beans are available and I enjoy bringing them into my kitchen. Most often I use them as an ingredient in salads2, but a recipe for a soup in La Cucina, the Regional Cooking of Italy by the Accademia Italiana della Cucina3 caught my attention, as it uses another seasonal ingredient I enjoy: spring onions. After months of using storage onions, fresh, juicy spring ones are a pleasure to savor.

I cannot imagine Elizabeth Zott choosing this soup for a Supper at Six installment, though had she done so, she could have explained to her audience about favism4 (favismo) a severe reaction to consumption of fava beans that occurs in people affected by deficiency of the enzyme glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD), and could have expanded on the role enzymes play in chemical reactions. Once diagnosed, people affected by the genetic condition avoid ingesting fava beans.

ingredients for fava bean and onion soup / IMG_5133

two main ingredients plus a non-traditional one (for an Italian dish)
(placemat by La FABBRICA del LINO)

 My rendition of this simple soup includes an ingredient I recently purchased from a local farmer5: a miso made with green lentils (lenticchie verdi) and aged for a bit more than three years. I have been adding it to various dishes and even to cookies. 

Print-friendly version of briciole's recipe for Onion and fava bean soup

Ingredients:

  • 1 pound / 450 grams fresh fava beans
  • 1/2 pound / 8 ounces / 225 grams red spring onion
  • 2 tablespoons /  30 ml extra-virgin olive oil
  • 1 1/2 cups / 355 ml water, or as needed
  • 3/4 tablespoon miso (see note below)
  • finely chopped chives for garnish, optional

Note: the miso6 I use is aged 3+ years, like red miso, but it is made using green lentils rather than soybeans. It has a relatively mellow flavor. I suggest using yellow miso first. Depending on your preference, you may then mix it with some red miso for a stronger flavor (or with white miso for a lighter one).

Shell the fava beans and blanch them for 30 seconds, then drain them and plunge them into a bowl of ice-cold water to stop the cooking.

Slit the skin with your thumbnail then pinch or twist to slip the bright green core out of its coat and into a small bowl. (You don't need to peel tiny fava beans, whose skin is quite thin.) Set aside.

Chop the spring onion.

Heat up the olive oil in a saucepan, then add the onion and stir well to coat. Cook on low heat until the onion is soft, 6 minutes or so, stirring often.

Add the fava beans to the saucepan and stir well. Pour the water into the saucepan: the vegetables should be submerged, but visible just below the surface. (Add more water if necessary.) Cover the saucepan and bring the soup to a boil.

Cook the soup on low heat until the fava beans are soft, 25-30 minutes or as needed. Stir every now and then with a wooden spoon and mash some of the fava beans against the side of the saucepan.

Put the miso in a small cup. When the soup is almost ready, spoon some of the liquid into the cup and stir to blend. Pour the diluted miso into the soup and stir well.

Remove the soup from the heat. Serve hot, with some chives sprinkled on top, if desired.

Serves 2-3.

I love this soup: the spring onion gives it a fresh flavor, the fava beans make it earthy, miso adds umami and the result is satisfying,

1 The book's page on the author's website
2 From briciole's archive: Strawberry, fava bean, fennel and radish salad
3 The cookbook's page on the publisher's website
4 Favism
5 Palmer Creek Farm
6 Types of miso and their characteristics

Click on the button to hear me pronounce the Italian words mentioned in the post

zuppa di cipolle e fave

or launch the zuppa di cipolle e fave [mp3].

[Depending on your set-up, the audio file will be played within the browser or by your mp3 player application. Please, contact me if you encounter any problems.]

CtBThis is my contribution to the current selection of our Cook the Books hosted by Debra of Eliot's Eats. (You can find the guidelines for participating in the event on this page.)

The roundup of the event.

FTC disclosure: I have received the table linen free of charge from the manufacturer (la FABBRICA del LINO). I have not and will not receive any monetary compensation for presenting it on my blog. The experience shared and the opinions expressed in this post are entirely my own.

soup, onion, fava beans, miso, Italian cuisine

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Newrule

zuppa di cipolle e fave

onion and fava bean soup / IMG_5143

zuppa semplice e ottima

Arrivati alla lettera F del nostro viaggio nel mondo degli ingredienti ho deciso subito che avrei preparato un piatto con le fave, che in questo momento sono di stagione. Mio padre le adorava e a tutti in famiglia piacevano crude, mangiate a fine pasto, semplicemente sbucciate e con un pochino di sale o, meglio ancora, del pecorino fresco.

Mia madre preparava anche la zuppa di fave: a me non piaceva per via delle bucce. In tutti i piatti che preparo con le fave il primo passo è quello di liberarle dalla loro buccia, previo breve sbollentamento. 

ingredients for fava bean and onion soup / IMG_5133

i due ingredienti + uno non tradizionale (per un piatto italiano)
(tovaglietta de La FABBRICA del LINO)

Ho trovato questa zuppa sul sito dell'Accademia Italiana della Cucina1 che la colloca in Campania come regiode d'origine. La ricetta è brevissima e io l'ho personalizzata con l'utilizzo di un ingrediente non tradizionale, il miso, che in questo periodo sto usando molto perché ho trovato un produttore locale che mi ha ispirato.

Una nota riguardo al favismo: è una reazione all'ingestione di fave che può colpire persone affette da carenza dell'enzima glucosio-6-fosfato deidrogenasi (G6PD). Una volta diagnosticata la carenza enzimatica (che ha base genetica), queste persone evitano le fave.

Ingredienti:

  • 450 grammi di fave fresche
  • 225 grammi di cipolla novella rossa (cipollotto rosso)
  • 2 cucchiai / 30 ml di olio extra-vergine di oliva
  • 355 ml di acqua, o q.b.
  • 3/4 cucchiaio di miso (vedi nota in basso)
  • erba cipollina tritata, facoltativa

Nota: il miso che utilizzo è maturato per oltre 3 anni, come il miso rosso, ma è fatto con lenticchie verdi invece che fagioli di soia. Non ha un sapore forte. Vi suggerisco di provare prima ad utlizzare il miso giallo. Se preferite un sapore più intenso, potete usare un mix di miso giallo e rosso. In generale, più il miso è scuro, più lungo è stato il periodo di fermentazione, più intenso è il sapore. Se non trovate il miso o non desiderate usarlo, potete fare lo stesso la zuppa e condirla con del sale fino.

Sgranate le fave e sbollentatele per 30 secondi, poi scolatele e tuffatele in acqua ghiacciata. Spellate le fave (a parte quelle proprio piccole, dalla pellicina fine) e mettetele da parte.

Tagliate finemente la cipolla.

In una pentola scaldate l'olio di oliva, aggiungete la cipolla e mescolate bene. Cuocere a fuoco dolce fino a quando la cipolla è tenera, circa 6 minuti, mescolando spesso.

Aggiungete le fave e mescolate bene. Versate l'acqua nella pentola: le verdure devono essere appena sommerse. (Aggiungete acqua se necessario.) Incoperchiate la pentola e portate ad ebollizione la zuppa.

Cuocete la zuppa a fuoco basso per 25-30 minuti o fino a quando le fave siano tenere. Mescolate la zuppa di tanto in tanto con un cucchiaio di legno e schiacciate alcune fave contro la parete della pentola.

Mettete il miso in una tazzina. Quando la zuppa è quasi pronta versare un po' del liquido nella tazzina e mescolate bene. Versate il miso diluito nella zuppa e mescolate bene.

Togliete la pentola dal fuoco. Servite la zuppa ben calda con, se volete, dell'erba cipollina tritata sparsa sulla superficie.

Porzioni: 2-3.

Questa zuppa mi piace molto: la cipolla novella le dà un sapore fresco, le fave un sapore rustico, il miso contribuisce umami e il risultato è ottimo.

1 Ricetta sul sito dell'Accademia italiana della cucina

UnMondoIngredientiLogo LetteraFContribuisco la mia zuppa di cipolle e fave dall'Italia alla lettera F di Un mondo d'ingredienti evento creato dall'instancabile Aiu' di Trattoria Muvara

 

FTC disclosure: Ho ricevuto gli articoli di lino gratuitamente dall'azienda produttrice (la FABBRICA del LINO). Non ho ricevuto e non riceverò alcun compenso per presentarli sul mio blog. Le opinioni espresse nel post sono interamente personali.

recipe: onion and fava bean soup

| Simona

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honeynut squash and red beet soup / zuppa di zucca e barbabietola rossa

| Simona

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honeynut squash and red beet soup
festive colors and bright flavor

Our current Cook the Books Club selection is Midnight Chicken by Ellen Risbridger1, a cookbook with stories. The most exciting thing for me related to this book is that I was able to get the electronic version from the library (biblioteca). I am still not sure how I got the various pieces to work, but one day, I clicked on a link in an email and pretty soon I could open the book in my e-reader. I don’t think this is the best solution for cookbooks (seeing as the kitchen is not the best environment for electronics), but for reading it is great. I am already half-way into the second book I borrowed.

Risbridger talks about her life and about how cooking helped her in moments of particular difficulty. She is open about her mental health and her struggles. She lives in London and her shopping and cooking are influenced by the urban environment. She favors prepackaged vegetables, like cleaned and cut winter squash, and canned legumes and wonders who makes homemade puff pastry (I do). Her ingredients are British, like self-raising flour.

I was not inspired to make any of the recipes, but one of them reminded me that red beets are called beetroots in England and that inspired me to grab a beautiful bunch of them at the farmers market, with their glorious greens (foglie di barbabietola) still attached. In our household we LOVE beet greens so those disappeared fast. The book includes a recipe for Butternut squash mash, which reminded of a recipe I made some time ago that brings together those two ingredients into a bright soup that is just perfect for when the weather is gray and cold.

This time I used honeynut squash, a relatively new variety of winter squash2 which I introduced in a post last year.3 Honeynut squash looks like a mini butternut squash: it has the same elongated shape, solid neck, bulbous end, but it is smaller, darker in color and sweeter in flavor. This year, a local farmer grew it, so I’ve been able to find it at the market. Given its small size, it is perfect for recipes where you don’t need a large squash.

Print-friendly version of briciole’s recipe for Honeynut squash and red beet soup

Ingredients:

  • 8 ounces / 225 grams red beets
  • 18-20 ounces / 510-565 grams honeynut squash
  • 2 tablespoons / 30 ml extra-virgin olive oil
  • 6 ounces / 170 grams red onion, chopped
  • 1 tablespoon / 15 ml grated fresh ginger
  • 3 large garlic cloves, minced
  • 1 teaspoon ground coriander
  • ½ teaspoon ground cumin
  • ½ teaspoon hot paprika powder
  • 1 cup / 240 ml chicken or vegetable broth, preferably homemade
  • 2 cups / 475 ml water
  • 1/2-3/4 teaspoon fine sea salt, to taste

If you purchase a bunch of red beets with their greens, cut off the greens about 1 inch / 2.5 cm from the root and cook them as soon as possible like you would other types of dark leafy greens.

The honeynut squash and beets are roasted before being used in the soup. This step can be done in advance.

Heat the oven to 375 F / 190 C. Line a baking sheet with a silicone baking mat.

Scrub the beets, wrap them in aluminum foil and place them on the baking sheet.

Cut the squash in half lengthwise and remove the seeds (a grapefruit spoon works well to do this). Place the squash halves on the prepared baking sheet, cut side down.

Bake the squash until it’s tender enough to pierce easily with a blade, about 40 minutes.

Bake the red beets until easily pierced with a knife, an additional 20 minutes or so.

Let the squash cool then scrape the flesh off the skin with a spoon.

Let the red beets cool until easy to handle, then slip off the skin. Cube the beets and set them aside.

Warm up the olive oil in a soup pot on medium heat, then add the onion, stirring well to coat. Cook for 2 minutes, then add the ginger and stir. Cover and cook on gentle heat for another 8 minutes, until the onion is soft, stirring often. Add the garlic, coriander, cumin and hot paprika, stir and cook for 1 minute.

Add the squash and the red beets to the pot, stir and add the broth and water. Bring the soup ring to a boil, covered, then turn down the heat so the soup bubbles gently. Cook for 15 minutes, then remove the pot from heat. Season with the salt and stir. Let the soup rest, covered, for 15-30 minutes, then purée it with an immersion blender.

Making the soup at least a few hours before serving will allow it to rest and ripen.

When ready to eat, heat the soup, ladle it in bowls and serve immediately.

Serves 4-5.

honeynut squash and red beet soup
shapes and surfaces

I like the bright red color and the sweet and spicy flavor of this nourishing soup.

1 An article with author’s interview on NPR
2 Bon Appétit article on honeynut squash
3 My post and recipe for Honeynut squash, blue cheese and walnut bites

Click on the button to hear me pronounce the Italian words mentioned in the post

Cook the Books logoThis is my contribution to the current selection of our Cook the Books hosted by Debra of Eliot’s Eats. (You can find the guidelines for participating in the event on this page.)

The roundup of the event.

Souper Sundays logo I am contributing my soup also to Souper (Soup, Salad & Sammies) Sundays, a weekly event created by Cook the Books club co-host Deb of Kahakai Kitchen.

The roundup of the event.

Copyright © 2007 – 2026 Simona Carini. All rights reserved.

romanesco broccoli soup / zuppa di broccolo romanesco

| Simona

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romanesco broccoli soup / IMG_2842-3

comfort soup for winter evenings
(placemat by La FABBRICA del LINO)

Our current Cook the Books Club selection is Eat Joy: Stories & Comfort Food From 31 Celebrated Writers, edited by Natalie Eve Garrett 1, a collection of short pieces focused on food memories, some joyful, some painful, all interesting. Each writer shares a moment or an aspect of their life, describes the food associated with it and provides the recipe. It is a pleasant read, a reminder of our deep connection with food which crosses nationalities and cultures and brings us together as humans.

In the years I have been writing, I have described a number of personal comfort recipes. Seeing as winter is here and storms lash out at the Northern California coast, soup is the food that right now brings me most comfort. I am actually a year-round soup eater (as my recent post featuring tromboncino squash soup shows2), but in the winter months, soup becomes a constant. My mother would make minestrone fairly regularly but only rarely would she purée vegetables to make passato di verdure. I loved the latter, smooth and silky. It's a familiar story: we crave what is unusual, rarely tasted. I carried this hankering for smooth soups to adulthood and even now, the last step, when the immersion blender3 does its magic, is the most satisfying.

broccolo romanesco / romanesco broccoli

removing the color highlights the mesmerizing shape

The main ingredient of my current favorite soup is one of my favorite vegetables: Romanesco broccoli (Brassica oleracea var. italica). It's impossible not to be fascinated by this vegetable's shape, its geometric beauty. And it is not just pretty, it has also a great flavor, a cross between broccoli and cauliflower, and slightly nutty.

Print-friendly version of briciole's recipe for Romanesco broccoli soup

Ingredients:

  • 1 1/4 pounds / 20 ounces / 570 grams Romanesco broccoli (to yield a clean weight of 16 ounces / 450 grams)
  • 3 tablespoons / 45 ml extra-virgin olive oil, divided
  • 4 ounces / 113 grams red onion, finely chopped
  • 1/2 tablespoon grated fresh ginger
  • 1 1/2 cups / 355 ml chicken broth or stock, or vegetable broth [in which case the soup is vegan], possibly homemade, divided
  • 2 1/2 cups / 590 ml water
  • 3 tablespoons nut butter of choice, like walnut cashew butter5 or roasted almond butter
  • 1/2-1 teaspoon fine sea salt, depending on salt content of other ingredients and to taste

Heat the oven to 400 F / 205 C. Line a baking sheet with a silicone baking mat.

Cut the Romanesco broccoli into bite-sized florets. Peel the stalk and cut it crosswise into coins.

Place the Romanesco broccoli in a bowl and drizzle it with 1 tablespoon / 15 ml of the olive oil. Toss well to coat.

Spread the Romanesco broccoli in a single layer on the prepared baking sheet and place it in the oven. Roast the Romanesco broccoli for 20-22 minutes, until just tender.

Warm up the remaining 2 tablespoons / 30 ml of olive oil in a pot. Add the onion and stir well. Cook for a couple of minutes on medium-low heat, then add the grated ginger and stir well. Cover the pot and cook on low heat until the onion is soft, stirring often.

Add the Romanesco broccoli to the pot, stir and after a minute pour 1 cup / 240 ml of the broth and the water into the pot. The liquid should barely cover the vegetables. Cover the pot, bring to a boil and cook on low heat until you can mash a floret of Romanesco broccoli with the back of a wooden spoon against the side of the pot.

Sprinkle the sea salt and stir. Let cool for 20-30 minutes, then purée with an immersion blender. Before you finish the processing, heat up the remaining broth in a mug and mix in the nut butter. Pour into the soup and process briefly to blend well. Taste and adjust salt. Add some water to make the soup reach desired consistency.

When ready to eat, heat the soup, ladle it in bowls and serve immediately.

Serves 4-5

1 NPR interview with the book's editor
2 My recent post on Tromboncino squash soup
3 Article on industrial designer Gabriel Lluelles the inventor of the immersion blender, (which in Italy is sometimes called a minipimer)
5 I love this company's nut butters

Click on the button to hear me pronounce the Italian words mentioned in the post:

zuppa di broccolo romanesco

or launch the zuppa di broccolo romanesco audio file [mp3].

[Depending on your set-up, the audio file will be played within the browser or by your mp3 player application. Please, contact me if you encounter any problems.]

CtBThis is my contribution to the current selection of our Cook the Books hosted by Deb of Kahakai Kitchen. (You can find the guidelines for participating in the event on this page.)

The roundup of the event.

Souper Sundayslogo And I am contributing my fruit salad also to Souper (Soup, Salad & Sammies) Sundays, a weekly event created by Cook the Books club co-host Deb of Kahakai Kitchen.

The roundup of the event.

FTC disclosure: I have received the table linen free of charge from the manufacturer (la FABBRICA del LINO). I have not and will not receive any monetary compensation for presenting it on my blog. The experience shared and the opinions expressed in this post are entirely my own.

onion, Romanesco broccoli, soup, Italian cuisine

recipe: romanesco broccoli soup

| Simona

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tromboncino squash soup / zuppa di zucchetta

| Simona

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IMG_344tromboncino squash soup / 4

creamy delight
(placemat by La FABBRICA del LINO)

In the year of COVID, in the summer (and now fall) of fires, I am clinging to cooking and reading to keep my balance. Among my to-read books, I recently chose a novel by the late Swedish author Henning Mankell (without Kurt Wallander2 as protagonist): The Man from Beijing.1 The book opens with a horrific mass murder in a remote Swedish village. Judge Birgitta Roslin, who is connected to some of the victims, gets involved the case, whose roots go back in time and space to the construction of the Pacific Railroad, which relied on the labor of, among others, Chinese workers. The novel travels also to Canton, Beijing, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Copenhagen and London.

The plot kept me interested until the end, yet I admit I missed Wallander, following his meticulous investigation and reasoning process to reach the solution. Roslin is not an investigator, yet she ends up discovering what happened, partly thanks to her determination, partly to chance. Mankell is not shy in criticizing his country and worries about its future. In The Man from Beijing such worries take a more international tone.

tromboncino squash ingredients / IMG_3445

the soup's trio of ingredients
(napkin by La FABBRICA del LINO)

Tromboncino squash3 is a favorite summer squash (in Italian tromboncino literally means small trombone, the musical instrument). I get excited when I see it displayed on a table at the farmers' market or, as was the case earlier this year, at a farm stand4. Its long, curvy shape is eye-catching and its dense flesh and delicate, pleasant flavor make it a winner. Although it is harvested early and consumed as a summer squash, tromboncino squash does not belong to the Cucurbita pepo species like zucchini and other summer squashes, but rather to Cucurbita moschata, like butternut squash. Like its more famous relative, zucchetta has seeds only in the lower part of its body: the long neck is seedless.

Print-friendly version of briciole's recipe for Tromboncino squash soup

Ingredients:

  • 1 1/4 pound / 20 ounces / 570 grams tromboncino squash
  • 2 tablespoons / 30 ml extra-virgin olive oil
  • 10 ounces / 280 grams sweet onion, chopped
  • 3 garlic cloves, peeled and minced
  • 1/2 teaspoon Ras el Hanout (spice mix)5
  • 1/2 teaspoon Marrakech Moroccan mix5: substitute either or both mixes with spices of choice, but do not skip
  • 1 cup / 240 ml chicken broth or stock, or vegetable broth [in which case the soup is vegan], possibly homemade
  • 2 cups / 475 ml water, plus more as needed
  • 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt, or to taste
  • freshly grated cheese of choice, to taste

Heat the oven to 375 F / 190 C.

Line a baking sheet with a silicone baking mat or parchment paper.

Cut the tromboncino squash into 1/2-inch / 1.25 cm thick slices and distribute them on a single layer on the lined baking sheet. Bake for 30 minutes, turning the slices halfway through. Take the baking sheet out of the oven, let the squash slices cool slightly then transfer into a bowl.

Warm up the olive oil in a soup pot on medium heat. Add the onion and stir, turn down the heat and cook on low heat until the onion is soft, stirring often. Add the garlic, stir and cook for 1 minute. Sprinkle the spices on the onion and stir, add the tromboncino squash slices to the pot, pour the broth and water and stir.

Cover the pot and bring to a boil. Adjust the heat so the soup bubbles gently. Cook until you can smash the squash easily with the back of a spoon. Sprinkle the salt, stir, turn off heat and let the soup rest for at least 15 minutes, then purée with an immersion blender. Add more water, as needed, to make the soup reach the desired consistency. Taste and adjust salt to your taste.

When ready to eat, heat the soup, ladle it in bowls and sprinkle some cheese on top. Serve immediately.

Serves 4-5

Roasting the squash adds depth of flavor to this soup and the spices make it shine. I usually don't stop after the first bowl.

1 The novel's page on the publisher's website
2 My earlier Novel Food post featuring Kurt Wallander
3 Wikipedia entry on Tromboncino squash and an earlier post on this blog with another recipe for tromboncino squash and tomatoes
4 Sarvinski Family Farm (The Corn Crib)
5 The spice mixes I use: Ras el Hanout contains nutmeg, sea salt, black pepper, ginger, cardamom, mace, Chinese cinnamon, ground allspice, turmeric, saffron; Marrakech Moroccan mix contains cinnamon, turmeric, nutmeg, mace, white pepper, galangal, black and green cardamom, ginger, anise, allspice, rose petals, cloves, lavender, orris root, cayenne.

Click on the button to hear me pronounce the Italian words mentioned in the post:

zuppa di zucchetta

or launch the zuppa di zucchetta audio file [mp3].

[Depending on your set-up, the audio file will be played within the browser or by your mp3 player application. Please, contact me if you encounter any problems.]

Small_NFlogoThis is my contribution to the 40th edition of Novel Food, the literary/culinary event that Lisa of Champaign Taste and I started 13 years ago and that I continue to host.

The roundup of the event.

Souper Sundayslogo And I am contributing my fruit salad also to Souper (Soup, Salad & Sammies) Sundays, a weekly event created by Cook the Books club co-host Deb of Kahakai Kitchen.

The roundup of the event.

FTC disclosure: I have received the table linen free of charge from the manufacturer (la FABBRICA del LINO). I have not and will not receive any monetary compensation for presenting it on my blog. The experience shared and the opinions expressed in this post are entirely my own.

onion, tromboncino squash, soup, Italian cuisine

recipe: tromboncino squash soup

| Simona

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recipe: crozets

| Simona

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crozets

| Simona
crozets / IMG_4200

done with cutting crozets

For me, the current selection of our Cook the Books Club, The Hundred-Foot Journey by Richard Morais, was a movie before it was a novel. Ten minutes into it, I started fidgeting. Five minutes later, my husband and I agreed it was not worth watching further. Nothing happened in that quarter of an hour to make us wonder what would happen next.

With that history, I approached the book with caution and was pleasantly surprised. It is much better than the movie, at least until the midpoint: the story, the characters (particularly the protagonist's mother) and the descriptions are interesting and enjoyable. At the scene in the chapel my suspension of disbelief shattered, then the novel became another story of apprenticeship in the kitchen.

The book has a lot of dishes in it, but what intrigued me was the location of the French village where the protagonist's family moves, the Jura, so I did some research on French mountain cuisine and read about crozets, a type of pasta typical of Savoie (which is south of Jura) traditionally made "from wheat flour, buckwheat or a mixture of both."1 

dough for crozets / IMG_4197

pretty speckled dough

The dry version of this pasta can be purchased in boxes. It comes in three varieties: plain, with buckwheat flour and with mushrooms.2 Differently from pizzoccheri, the famous pasta made with buckwheat flour (farina di grano saraceno) typical of Valtellina (Italy), crozets contain eggs. Also, the crozet dough I made has less buckwheat flour than the dough I make for pizzoccheri. I followed the ratio of 2 parts wheat flour to 1 part buckwheat flour that Clotilde Dusoulier has in her recipe for Buckwheat Pasta Dough3 and, as usual, I made a small batch, using one egg (un uovo di pasta).

As you can see from the photo, the dough was quite pretty, of a pastel yellow and speckled, thanks to stone-ground buckwheat flour. Traditionally this pasta is used to make gratins and I was planning to do something along those lines, but an unwelcome cold requiring chicken soup therapy for my husband sent the crozets into hot chicken broth. My version of crozets combined the richness of egg with the rustic texture of stone-ground buckwheat flour. They were a great company to the pieces of chicken that enriched the soup.

Printer-friendly version of briciole's recipe for Crozets

Ingredients for the pasta dough:

  • 55 g all-purpose flour, plus more, as needed, to obtain a firm dough
  • 25 g buckwheat flour, possibly stone-ground
  • A pinch of salt
  • one 55 g egg, possibly from pastured poultry

Ingredients for the soup:

  • 3 cups / 700  ml chicken4 or vegetable broth, homemade or, if store-bought, organic
  • 1 batch crozets
  • 7 ounces / 200 g cooked chicken, diced
  • Freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano (optional)

Make crozets
On the working surface or in a bowl, create a well with the flours and salt and crack the egg directly into it. Scramble the egg with a fork. Draw flour from the sides of the well into the center, mixing well with the egg.

Trade the fork for your fingertips. Draw flour until a soft dough forms. If you started in a bowl, empty it on the working surface and scrape its side and bottom well.

Starts kneading the dough: push the dough away from you with their heel of your hand (given the small size of the dough, one hand will be enough), then with the help of the other hand gather it back toward you folding it on itself and turning it 90 degrees. Add a bit more flour (5 grams or so) to obtain a soft, non-sticky dough. Continue kneading in the same way.

Knead the dough until it is smooth, 8-10 minutes. Let the dough rest for an hour or so (at least half an hour), well covered (e.g., in a small ziplock bag or wrapped in plastic film) so it doesn't dry out.

Cut the dough into 2 equal pieces, flatten both with a rolling pin and then roll by hand or with a pasta machine. This is a fairly thick pasta, so I stop at the last but two notch of my pasta machine. Sprinkle the dough with all-purpose flour as needed to prevent sticking.

Sprinkle the dough with a bit of all-purpose flour, then cut each piece into 1/4-inch / 6 mm wide strips (basically, tagliatelle) with the machine attachment or by hand. In the latter case, fold a 3-inch strip of pasta lengthwise away from you. Continue folding the strip until the entire pasta sheet is folded into a flattened roll. With a sharp knife, cut across the flattened roll. Immediately unfold the cut strips, then line them up and cut them across into 1/4-inch / 6 mm wide squares. (I do this with my bench scraper rather than a knife.)

cutting crozets / IMG_4198

cutting crozets

Sprinkle the crozets with flour and run your fingers through them (see top photo) to ensure that they are well separated and don't stick together.

Continue until you cut all the dough, kneading and rolling again cutouts as needed.

Make the soup
Bring the broth to a boil in a saucepan and add the crozets. Cook until tender (the time needed depends on how dry they are). In the meantime, if the chicken is cold, warm it up in the microwave. Once the pasta is cooked, add the chicken to the soup and stir. Take the saucepan off the heat.

Ladle the soup into bowls and optionally sprinkle a bit of Parmigiano-Reggiano on it. Serve immediately.

Serves 2-4

chicken soup with crozets / IMG_4206

comforting

Thanks to the book, I went on a journey of discovery and am pleased to have found crozets. (I suspect you will read more about this pasta soon.)

1 A Savory Savoie Tradition: Crozets
2 Crozets — A Savoie Pasta
3 Buckwheat Pasta Dough recipe in Clotilde Dusoulier's The French Market Cookbook
4 My post on my chicken stock/broth

CtBThis is my contribution to the current selection of our Cook the Books hosted by Deb of Kahakai Kitchen. (You can find the guidelines for participating in the event on this page.)

The roundup of the event.

Click on the button to hear me pronounce the Italian words mentioned in the post:

crozets

or launch the crozets audio file [mp3].

[Depending on your set-up, the audio file will be played within the browser or by your mp3 player application. Please, contact me if you encounter any problems.]

pasta, soup, buckwheat flour, chicken, French cuisine

 

recipe: spinach soup

| Simona
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