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Swiss chard onion celery stalks fresh Italian parsley leaves basil extra-virgin olive oil peperoncino flakes tomato paste water salt freshly ground black pepper egg country bread freshly grated Pecorino processor saucepan A skillet
Viewed: 11 - Published at: 7 years agoIngredients
- 2 pounds Swiss chard
- 1 onion, chopped (about 1 cup)
- 2 celery stalks, trimmed, peeled, and cut into chunks (about 1 1/2 cups)
- 1/3 cup fresh Italian parsley leaves
- 8 fresh basil leaves
- 1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
- 1/2 teaspoon peperoncino flakes, or to taste
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste
- 9 cups water
- 2 teaspoons salt, or to taste
- 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, or to taste
- 1 egg
- 1/2 slice day-old country bread, or 3 or 4 large croutons
- Freshly grated pecorino to taste
- A food processor
- A heavy-bottomed saucepan or soup pot, 5-or 6-quart capacity, with a cover
- A skillet or saute pan, 3-inch sides or deeper, with a cover, for poaching eggs
Method
- Wash and drain the chard, and tear out the long stems from the leafy parts.
- Stack the leaves, and slice crosswise into 1-inch strips.
- Cut off the tough base of each stem, and discard.
- Chop the trimmed stems into 1/2-inch pieces.
- Using a food processor, mince the onion, celery, parsley, and basil into a fine-textured paste (pestata).
- Heat the oil in the saucepan over medium heat, scrape in the pestata, and stir it all around the pan as it starts to steam and sizzle.
- Sprinkle in the peperoncino and cook, stirring, until the pestata has dried and starts to stick, 4 minutes or so.
- Drop in the tomato paste, and stir to toast it for a minute.
- Pour in 9 cups water, raise the heat to high, and stir up all the cooked seasonings, while adding 2 teaspoons of salt and some freshly ground pepper to taste.
- Bring the water to the boil, and dump in all of the cut chard leaves and chopped stems.
- Return to the boil, cover partially, and cook at a steady simmer for about 40 minutes, until the chard is very tender and the broth is quite flavorful.
- Turn off the heat until youre ready to serve.
- Ladle about 1 1/3 cups of soup per serving into the skillet.
- Heat to a simmer; crack and carefully slip into the soup one egg for each serving.
- Turn the heat down very low, cover the skillet tightly, and poach the eggs for 2 minutes or longer.
- Put a bread slice or croutons in each warm soup bowl, and when the eggs are done as you like them, lift them out one at a time with a slotted spoon or spatula, taking some cooked greens too.
- Lay the egg and greens on the bread, and ladle in hot broth to cover.
- Sprinkle pecorino over the egg and broth, and serve immediately, passing more cheese at the table.
