IN FLORENCE, WINTER MEANS SOUP!

Min. reading

Served in our restaurant, a dish from the farming tradition.

There is no doubt that in winter we always want to eat something warm, something comforting for the body and soul. And this is precisely what our soup does at Il Guelfo Bianco, our hotel with a vegetarian restaurant in Florence.

It is a very nutritious winter dish. Its origins can be found back in a poorer, farming Italy where, in order to put a meal together, you would have had to make a virtue out of necessity.

In the vegetable gardens, onions, cannellini beans – that could be preserved for long periods – and kale were mixed with what the soil would offer in the cold season, giving life to recipes where creativity was the main ingredient.

Zuppa finished

Strangely enough, nowadays Ribollita, Carabaccia, spelt and chickpea soups are the most requested soups in the best restaurants, where the best food is served and where high quality Tuscan products, such as Garfagnana spelt, Sorana beans and Certaldo Red Onions, are used in their ancient recipes.

Revolution thus travels from the country to the city, carrying traditions, ancient flavours and the values of cooking simple and healthy meals, in line with the current nutritional habits of vegans and vegetarians.

Write us for more info and book your stay at the Hotel il Guelfo Bianco in Florence and sit at a table in our restaurant, where the Spelt soup is one of our winter specialties.

This is how we make it:

Spelt soup

INGREDIENTS
Garfagnana Spelt (D.O.P. label)
Dried organic cannellini beans 350gr
2 carrots
2 celery stalks
1 onion
1 shallot
Sautee brunoised carrots
Celery
Garlic
Onion
Shallot
Herbs (thyme, rosemary, sage)
Salt and pepper to taste

PROCEDURE

Boil the beans (after soaking them in water for 12 hours) in 3 litres of cold salted water with a whole head of garlic (not peeled!), thyme, rosemary and sage.
When they are well done, take two thirds of them and mash them with a vegetable mill (not a blender) and then add the mash to the cooking water.
Sautee brunoised thyme, rosemary and sage in a pan for 10/15 minutes and then pour the whole broth and beans into the pan.
Add salt and pepper and the spelt (not soaked). Simmer for about one hour (add hot water if necessary). You should wait one hour after cooking to eat it, the dish is best served warm with raw extra virgin olive oil, without cheese.