Today’s recipe is very much inspired by acquacotta. It had been ages since I’d made this soup. For a while it was a regular, so I know the recipe well, but having been out of sorts in the kitchen lately, I sat down with a cup of tea and looked at the recipe before I got started. Not so much for the ingredients and quantities, which are pretty flexible, but to remind myself of the order of things, the details which make the difference: evenly sliced onion and celery, ideally with celery leaves too; bothering to peel the tomatoes; the long, slow cooking of the soffritto in lots of olive oil; adding hot water; the gentlest simmer for the eggs; garlic rubbed on the toast; bowls and slotted spoon at the ready. I had all the ingredients I needed, most importantly the bread – which was stale-going-on-hard.
Read More