Food of the World - Italy "Acquacotta (Tuscan Soup)"

Yield > 8
Keys : Rave Reviews Soups Stews Vegetarian Italian Italy European Mediterranean

Ingredients :
1 oz dried porcini mushrooms
2 med carrots cleaned and
chopped
2 lrg celery stalk chopped
1 med red onion cleaned
1 x clove garlic peeled
1 1/2 lb fresh tomatoes or canned
1 tbl tomato paste
salt and pepper to taste
1 pch red pepper flakes
2 qt cold water
1/2 cup egg beaters 99% egg
substitute
8 tbl parmesan cheese freshly
grated
2 cup croutons
Method :
• Soak the mushrooms in a bowl of lukewarm water for 1/2
hour to rehydrate.
• Drain the mushrooms (reserving the liquid), making sure
that no sand remains attached to the stems.
• Finely chop carrots, celery, onion, garlic and the soaked
mushrooms all together on a board.
• Heat the oil (or mushroom liquid) in a heavy casserole
over medium heat.
• When the sauteing liquid is warm, add the chopped
ingredients and saute for 10 minutes, stirring with a wooden
spoon as needed.
• Meanwhile pass the tomatoes through a food mill, using
the disk with the smallest holes, into a small bowl.
• Add the strained tomatoes, along with the tomato paste,
then salt, pepper and red pepper flakes. Let simmer for 15
minutes, mixing every so often.
• Add the cold water, mix very well and, when the broth
returns to a boil, let simmer for 55 minutes.
• Place the egg beaters (or two eggs) in a crockery or
china soup tureen and mix them very well with the Parmigiano
cheese.
• When the soup is ready, ladle it into the tureen, and
using a wooden spoon, mix each addition very well with the
egg-cheese combination in order to avoid curdling.
• When the broth is very smooth and the eggs completely
amalgamated, add the
• croutons and serve immediately. (If using bread slices
instead, place a slice in each bowl and ladle the broth over top.
Serve immediately.)
• Serving Ideas : Use sourdough bread for the croutons or
bread slices.
• NOTES : Becky's notes: Original recipe called for 1/2 c.
olive oil and two large eggs. The oil was to saute the
vegetables and mushrooms, but I used the broth from
rehydrating the mushrooms. I also added the leftover
mushroom liquid to my cold water soup stock for the flavor. I
never tried the two eggs, but thought Egg Beaters would be
just as suitable (if not more) because they're premixed and
pasteurized.
• The original recipe called for canned Italian tomatoes and
Italian
tomato paste. I used Contadina chopped tomatoes with Italian
seasoning.
• One mistake I made with my homemade croutons was
not crisping them
enough. Soggy bread was OK because the soup flavors
compensated,
but truly crunchy croutons would really give a great texture to
the soup.

View over 5,000 menus at http://www.menu-for-you.com