Zuppa Di Ceci e Porcini: Chickpea, Porcini Mushroom Soup
Ingredients
200 Grams of dry chickpeas or 2 Cups cooked
30 grams of dried porcini mushrooms (soaked in water or broth for about a half hour to 45 min). Or 4-5 frozen ones, sliced. I prefer the fresh/flash frozen ones but it would be a good idea to saute those in a pan on their own in a little bit of olive oil and lightly brown them. Add the sautéed mushroom to the soup during the last 5 minutes of cooking.
1 Leek
1 bunch of herbs (mixed) thyme, rosemary, bay leaf
1 clove of garlic
Chiles (optional)
1-2 tbs olive oil
Chicken Broth
Directions
- Soak dry chickpeas overnight. The next day, place them in a pot filled with cold water, add the one clove of garlic and the bay leaf. Bring to a boil and cook for about an hour to an hour and a half. You can also use canned or chickpeas from a jar.
- Once cooked, put one third of the chickpeas aside and puree.
- Soak the dried porcini mushrooms in a bit of water or chicken broth for about a half hour to an hour.
- Clean and chop the leek into fine pieces and sauté in about a tablespoon or two of olive oil. Add the chopped rosemary and thyme and Chile pepper if using. Stir for about a minute, season with salt and pepper and then add the chickpeas, the pureed chickpeas and the mushrooms. Cook for about 5 min.
- Add a ladle or two of the cooking liquid from the boiled chickpeas as well as a cup or two of chicken broth, you can make it as soupy as you like. Cook for about 15 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste. Towards the end of the cooking time, add two to three handfuls of spinach or any green you have on hand. Could be two to three leaves of chopped kale.
- Before serving, drizzle a tiny bit of olive oil in each plate.
To note: Whenever cooking with beans, a good trick to minimize the bloat they can cause is to cook them with 1/4 tsp of baking soda.
