Chickpea Soup with Porcini Mushrooms

Name: Chickpea Soup with Porcini Mushrooms
Yield: makes 5 to 6 quarts, serving 12 or more
Ingredients: 1 pound dried chickpeas; 1/2 ounce (about 1/2 cup) 1/2-inch pieces dried porcini; 1 small onion, coarsely chopped (about 1/2 cup); 2 garlic cloves, peeled; 1 or 2 tender celery stalks with leaves, coarsely chopped (about 1 cup); 1/4 cup fresh flat Italian-parsley leaves; 2 tablespoons fresh marjoram or oregano leaves; 2 tablespoons fresh rosemary needles, stripped from the branch; 2 tablespoons coarse sea salt or kosher salt, or to taste; 6 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil; 1 1/2 cups canned Italian plum tomatoes, preferably San Marzano, crushed by hand; 2 pounds mixed fresh mushrooms (such as porcini, shiitake, cremini, and common white mushrooms), cleaned and sliced; 1/2 teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper; Freshly grated Grana Padano or Parmigiano-Reggiano, for serving; Extra-virgin olive oil, best quality, for serving; A heavy-bottomed soup-or stockpot, 8-quart capacity or larger; A food processor; A large skillet for cooking the pestata

December 14, 2011

This hearty vegetarian soup gets superb flavor and texture from the long-cooking chickpeas and dried and fresh mushrooms. But the secret to the great taste is the paste (pestata) of aromatic vegetables and herbs, ground in the food processor. Before adding it to the soup however, you give the pestata even more flavor by browning it in a skillet—which makes it, in culinary Italian, a soffritto. As you will see in the coming pages, this pestata/soffritto step is used in many Maremma recipes, in sauces and stews as well as soups. In the country, such a soup is often served with grilled bread, making a whole meal. Adding rice or small pasta to the soup pot during the final 10 minutes of cooking is another way to enhance it. Or drop some good Italian sausages into soup for the last 20 minutes of cooking. Slice them right into the soup, or serve the sausages separately as a second course.

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