Soup 318

Where to start? What is better than soup?

Zuppa la mancia (for end of season when there is a handful of this and that)

Roughly chop an onion, a carrot and a couple of legs of celery including leaves. Saute' in olive oil until the onion is softened. Clean and cut up a handful of everything there is in your garden-- or your neighbor's garden. Mine usually includes a sliced or diced zucchina-- depends on the size, a handful of greenbeans with the stem removed but left whole, some swiss chard washed well and cut across in 3-4" pieces, a potato peeled and diced. Theow all this in the pot with a teaspoon or less of salt, and stir around for a minute. Add a handful of herbs, whole and on the branch, like thyme, marjoram-- anything not too powerful like mint. Add tap water to cover by about an inch or so. Cook until the onions and potatoes are thoroughly done. Wash and dice a fresh (or tinned) tomato or two. Throw into the pot and cook until they soften and start to lose integrity. (Don't add the tomatoes before the onions and potatoes are done or they will never soften.) Remove the herb branches. Taste for salt and correct. Grind fresh pepper over it all. Put a slice of stale sturdy bread in a soup plate and ladle the soup over it. Offer freshly grated parmigiano or grana padana for those who are not purists.

The recipe for the fat version and the dietetic version of my crema di pomodoro is on my blog. Try it. It was as good with tinned tomatoes this week as it was a month ago with fresh ones.

Maine Clam Chowder (my mum's version)

Always make chowders a day ahead, chill and reheat.)

Dice a 3" X 3" slice 1-4" thick of salt pork, good and fatty, in 1-4" or so pieces. In a large heavy pot, saute' them until crisp and remove to a paper towel. Keep them. Add a thinly sliced medium to large onion and saute' it until it softens a bit. Add 2-3 potatoes, peeled and sliced into about 3-16" slices. Add water to cover and simmer until the potatoes are just done. Add a quart (or ltre) of almost any kind of clams that you have scrubbed well. Cherrystone types are not a good choice because they are tough when cooked, but anything you'd steam is good. Cook until they open. If you are from Maine, you will then remove all the shells, but if from Italy they will be small and you will leave them. Pour in about a pint or a pint and a half of full fat milk and bring to a simmer. Grind generous amounts of pepper over all and add a knot of butter and let it melt over the top of the chowder. Chill until the next day, then reheat it and eat it with water biscuits or oyster crackers, and sprinkle the crisp salt pork bits over each serving. Reid should not make this, because it would taste foul without salt. --