Onion Soup of Tuscany: Carabaccia alla Fiorentina

I've read that this was a favorite soup of Leonardo da Vinci, and that the soup was taken by Catherine de Medici's Florentine kitchen staff to France, where it was used as the basis for what is now the famous French Onion Soup. I'm not totally certain of this, but it "seems" the original Italian onion soup of Medici's cooks did not have bread in it, with this part of the recipe being added later, but whether this was due to French influence, I have no idea (although the Italians put the bread in the dish and THEN put the soup over it), and there are other Italian onion soup recipes with bread that are similar to "carabaccia," but not quite the same, but variations in recipes for just about any good basic food exist. Bread was added to soups as a good way to use up bread, as it had no preservatives, and especially in warm weather, it would go bad quickly. Further, the addition of bread made the soup more substantial; that is, it could help to fill one's belly. 

The soup has a slight tanginess, but it's still to the sweet side from the onions, carrots and honey (if you use it).

Ingredients (about 4 to 6 servings):

3 red onions (baseball + size), peeled and thinly sliced

1/2 cup peeled and thinly sliced carrot

3 tablespoons olive oil

2 teaspoons salt

1/4 cup ground almonds

1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon 

3 tablespoons red wine vinegar

(optional) up to 2 tablespoons honey

4 cups vegetable stock

1/4 to 1/3 freshly grated pecorino toscano cheese (Tuscan), or parmigiano reggiano*

4 to 6 half slices of toasted Italian bread or slices of baguette 

extra virgin olive oil for toasting the bread and for drizzling 

In a heavy-bottomed pan, heat the olive oil over medium heat, then add the sliced onions and salt and reduce the heat to low. The heap of onions will look a bit intimidating, but don't worry, they'll cook down, so don't shed any tears (get it? Onions ... tears? Damn... tough crowd!). As the onions cook down, keep giving them a stir to prevent any heavy browning or burning, as the object is to cook the onions until they are super soft and sweet, and this can take 30 to 45 minutes. When the onions are well softened, add the carrot, ground black pepper, ground cinnamon and ground almonds; stir to mix. Cook a further 3 or 4 minutes, still on low heat, then add the stock, vinegar and honey and stir well. You can turn the heat up to medium and let the soup cook for 25 to 30 minutes (make sure the carrots are tender), stirring occasionally. Some people keep this as a soup (in this case, put a lid onto the pot after you add the stock), with a fair amount of broth, but others cook it down to make it more of a stew (keep the lid off after adding the stock). Add a slice of toasted bread to each bowl, then add the onion soup over the toasted bread. Sprinkle a little grated Pecorino over each bowl, and add a teaspoon or two of Italian extra virgin olive oil.  

* There are various types of Pecorino cheese in Italy, which are made from sheep's milk (a 'pecora' is a sheep in Italian, with 'pecore' being the plural). The most famous Pecorino cheese, and a major favorite of mine, is Pecorino Romano. The Tuscany region has its own type (Pecorino toscano), which is less salty and with a milder flavor than the more famous Pecorino Romano. It is very similar to the famous Parmigiana Reggiano, which is, therefore, a good substitute in this recipe. 

 

I set the slice of bread on top for the first two photos, so that it would be easier to see, but I put the bread into the bowl first, then poured the soup over it in the last photo, which is the traditional way to serve this soup ...

WORD HISTORY:

Puncture-This word is related to quite a number of other words, including to: "punctual," "pungent" and "pugilist," Latin derived words borrowed by English from that language, and to "repugnant," another Latin-derived word, and borrowed from Latin-based French, but with Latin influence (or less likely, but possibly, the other way around). "Puncture" goes back to Indo European "pewg/pewk," which had the notion of "to hit an object," but which had the further meaning "to hit an object with the intent to pierce that object." This gave Latin the verb "pungere" meaning "to pierce, to prick," a participle form of which was "punctus,"^ which gave Latin the noun "punctura" meaning "a piercing, a pricking," and English borrowed this from Latin in the latter part of the 1300s. The verb form developed from the noun, but not until the second half of the 1600s, with the meaning "to pierce something with a pointed object," eventually adding on, "to deflate an object by piercing it."     

  

^ Some etymologists believe "punctus" also had the meaning of "pointed object," and that's certainly possible.