This is a simple yet amazing Tuscan Farro Soup Recipe. This healthy soup, a kind of minestrone with farro, is ubiquitous in Lucca, a city in Tuscany. The farro is traditional, but you could use spelt or barley with good results. I can remember walking and walking around Lucca, Italy looking for a simple Sunday dinner. We happened on a restaurant who made a soup like this Tuscan Farro Soup. It was warming plus filling.
Ingredients
-
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
-
1 large onion, sliced
-
2 celery stalks, trimmed and chopped
-
2 carrots, peeled and chopped
-
Salt and pepper
-
1 tablespoon minced garlic
-
1 cup farro, spelt or barley
-
1 cup dried white beans, soaked for several hours or overnight
-
2 cups chopped tomatoes (canned are fine; do not drain)
-
6 cups stock or water, more as necessary
-
¼ cup chopped fresh parsley
-
¼ cup chopped fresh basil, optional
-
Freshly grated Parmesan
Preparation
-
Put oil in a large, deep saucepan over medium heat; a minute later add onion, celery, carrots, a large pinch of salt and some pepper. Cook until vegetables are glossy and onion is softened, 5 to 10 minutes. Add garlic, and stir; add farro, beans, tomatoes and stock, and stir.
-
Bring to a boil, then adjust heat so mixture simmers steadily. Cook until farro and beans are tender, at least an hour, adding stock or water as necessary if mixture becomes too thick. Stir in parsley and basil (if using), then cook another 5 minutes. Taste and adjust seasoning, then serve with lots of Parmesan.
Suggested changes:
A cook suggested: It is correct that beans should be cooked, at least most of the way, before adding tomatoes. The acidity of the tomatoes will prevent the beans from softening; that may explain some of the complaints in the comments here. An acid environment can also prevent starches from expanding. A little bit of tomato doesn’t cause trouble, but this recipe has too much tomato to cook either beans or grains in. I’m cooking the beans and barley in broth first, then adding tomatoes.
A reader made this delicious soup many times. This time they added a Parmesan rind as well as their standard bay leaf and white wine. They soaked the farro overnight and rinse thoroughly. Then, when they used a canned navy or great northern beans, the farro is perfectly cooked when everything else is done. They don’t see the reason for not adding the juices which are packed with the beans. It’s a bit salty, true, but just add less salt to the recipe. These juices give the soup a creamy quality.
Another reader: A wonderful soup. I strongly suggest using dried beans. There is no way that canned beans will give you the same texture or stand up to reheating the second (or third) day. Add more water if needed to thin it, and I loved the idea of using some of last summer’s frozen pesto in the soup before serving. This is a meal with a good loaf of bread.
Another comment: I’ve made this recipe a couple of times and it is truly delicious. I like to cook the soaked beans separately to control the tenderness then add to soup 15 minutes before it finishes. Also, I cook farro separately too since I use semi-pearled and it only takes 15-20 minutes. Then I add farro to soup mixture same time as beans. This recipe freezes really well.
This recipe was found in the NY Times Cooking Section.
Featured in: THE MINIMALIST; Good News: Nothing’s New in Italy . Recipe by: Mark Bittman
