If you were looking for the Olive Garden’s recipe: SORRY! You won’t find any wanna-be Tuscan recipe on this blog. That heavy-in-fat, nauseating recipe does not have any linking to Tuscan culinary tradition, and the word Toscana is attached to it only for marketing purposes…so if you really want to know what the REAL zuppa Toscana recipe is read on, otherwise I guess it’s time to part…
Still here with us? Ok, glad of that!
Ingredients for your zuppa Toscana (6 people):
250 g (4/3 cups, 8.8 ounces) of barley, 30 g (1 ounce) of bacon, 150 g (7/8 cups, 5.3 ounces) of dry red kidney beans, 150 g (7/8 cups, 5.3 ounces) of dry white kidney (cannellini) beans, 100 g (cups, 3.52 ounces) of dry chickpeas, 3 garlic cloves, 2 sticks of fresh rosemary, 2 tablespoons of double tomato concentrate, 6 slices of Tuscan bread, extra virgin olive oil, salt and black pepper.
Preparation:
Set three separate bowls of cold water and pour in the white kidney beans, the red kidney beans, and the chickpeas in their respective bowl. Let them soak overnight, and make sure to have plenty of water covering them as they will absorb a lot of it. Then rinse the barley with cold water and let it soak in water for 8 hours.
Strain the barley and rinse it thoroughly. When the beans and the chickpeas have stayed in water long enough, strain and rinse those as well.
Pour all the beans and chickpeas only (the barley is for later) in a large pan and pour in 3.5 liters (0.92 gallons) of water, and slowly bring to boil. Cover up, salt to taste, and cook for two hours at slow heat.
When the beans are done, strain them and keep one liter (1/4 gallon) of the cooking water.
Mince the bacon and the rosemary (only the leaves!), then set it in a pan where you have previously heated up 6 tablespoons of olive oil and one crushed garlic clove. Stir the double tomato concentrate in a cup of hot water, then pour it in the pan with the bacon and the rosemary.
Now add the cooking water of the beans that you previously set aside. When the water starts to boil, cover up, salt to taste and add the barley. Let it cook at slow heat for about one hour and a half.
When the barley is done, mix in the beans and chickpeas and let them flavor in for few minutes.
How to serve it:
Set the bread slices on the bottom each serving bowl, then pour the soup on top. Season with a swirl of olive oil, add salt, freshly grinded black pepper, and serve. If you like, before you set it in each bowl, you may also slightly toast the bread and pass a garlic clove on top of each slice to make it more flavorful.
This is the real zuppa Toscana recipe. So you see, no heavy cream, no sausages, no kale, no chicken broth, no red peppers. The only three common ingredients are the bacon, the water and the garlic. Nonetheless, the result is way more delicate, just as hearty and nutritive, and way lower in cholesterol and fats.
So let me know which one you prefer!
Start discussion »
Leave a Reply