Broccoli soup topped with crispy fried pancetta and fried sage. Photo by Shea Evans
Broccoli Soup
“Tuscany is known for a rich vegetable soup called ribollita, which has all sorts of vegetables, beans, and old, crusty bread,” Magee says. “Unfortunately, you can’t taste any one vegetable. I was struck with the freshness and incredible flavors of the vegetables I was buying in Tuscany, so I came up with this technique, which allowed me to showcase one vegetable using very few ingredients.”
Servings: 4 servings
Ingredients
- 2 heads broccoli
- 3½ ounces about ⅓ to ½ cup good extra-virgin olive oil
- Salt to taste
- Garnishes see instructions below:
- Rosemary-flavored olive oil
- Crispy pancetta
- Fried sage leaves
Instructions
- Cut off crowns from broccoli heads. Peel stems and cut in half. Boil crowns and stems in salted water until very tender. Drain and reserve some of the water, about ⅓ to ½ cup.
- In blender, purée broccoli with reserved water. As it blends, add olive oil. It will emulsify and become lighter in color.
- Warm up soup, then serve it with a drizzle of rosemary oil on top, a sprinkle of crispy pancetta, and fried sage.
To make rosemary oil
- Stir 1 tablespoon dried rosemary with about 1 cup olive oil. Allow time to let rosemary infuse oil.
To fry pancetta
- Mince 1 to 2 ounces pancetta (some supermarkets sell it minced and packaged). In nonstick pan with a little oil, cook over medium-high heat until crisp.
To fry fresh sage leaves
- Dust a moist sage leaf in flour and cook in nonstick pan with a little oil. It will crisp up quickly. Dry on paper towel.
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