Soup with Bread & Fontina Pasticciata

Name: Soup with Bread & Fontina Pasticciata
Yield: serves 6
Ingredients: 8 cups tasty chicken broth (or clear beef or vegetable stock); Kosher salt to taste; 1 tablespoon soft butter for the baking dish; 1/2 pound fontina from Valle d’Aosta (or Italian Fontal; see box, page 74); 1 cup freshly grated Grana Padano or Parmigiano-Reggiano, plus more for passing; 18 slices Italian bread, cut 1/2 inch thick from a long oval loaf, left out to dry overnight*; A baking dish or oval gratin dish, 3 quarts or larger; heavy aluminum foil

December 9, 2011

This might seem like an unusual dish, a pasticciata (a layered casserole) of bread and cheese that’s baked, cut into portions, and served in a bowl of hot broth. Yet the tastes and eating pleasure of seuppa ou piat will be completely familiar and welcome to anyone who loves the gratinéed crouton of French onion soup or enjoys a crispy grilled-cheese sandwich with a bowl of rich chicken broth alongside. This is a good dish for company, because you can have both the broth and the pasticciata hot and ready to be put together when your guests come. (Chicken stock is my preference, but a savory vegetable stock or a meaty beef broth is just as good.)

Cooks' Note

*Country Italian bread is best for this pasticciata. The width of the bread can vary since it is layered snugly in the baking dish, then cut in squares when served.

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