Soup alla Canavese

Soup alla Canavese is a wonderful and simple soup that can be easily made at home. It is a great option for anyone looking to add a healthy and delicious dish to their meal plan. This recipe is originally from Piedmont, a region located in Italy's northwest, and it's very popular in the area. The soup is made using basic ingredients such as white stock, cauliflower, tomato puree, sage, and Parmesan. The result is a hearty and nutritious soup that is perfect for cold winter days.

Funnily enough, I'd spent more than five years living in Piedmont (in Italy's northwest) before I actually got to taste this recipe. Even weirder was the fact that I had to find myself in the hospital for a minor operation before I got to eat it.

Normally hospital food is pretty horrible, but in Italy, at least in the hospital where I was a patient, it was excellent.

The menu on the first night included this soup alla canavese as the starter. I ordered it expecting very little, but instead I was very pleasantly surprised. Unfortunately, they didn't allow seconds, but since then I have continued to enjoy it regularly, and this recipe is the one I always use.

Ingredients:

White stock,

Four ounces of butter,

One onion,

One carrot,

One stick celery

One cauliflower,

Two leaves of sage,

Parmesan,

Salt,

Pepper.

Four tablespoonsful of tomato puree

Cooking Instructions

1) Chop up an onion, a carrot, a stick of celery, and a little bacon fat, and fry all together in four ounces of butter.

2) Cover them with a good white stock, boil for a few minutes, sieve, and add four tablespoonsful of tomato puree.

3) Blanch a cauliflower in salted water; let it cool and drain. Break it into little bunches and add to the stock with two leaves of dried sage, crumbled up, and a little bit of chopped parsley; let it all boil together; add in a pinch of grated cheese and some pepper to taste.

4) Serve with grated Parmesan and a few basil leaves as a garnish.

Serves up to 4 people

Soup alla Canavese can be enjoyed as a starter or a main course, and it is a wonderful way to sneak more veggies into your meals. Feel free to add whatever vegetables you love or toss in some chicken or beans for extra protein. For a heartier meal, stir in some small pasta like ditalini or broken spaghetti—they soak up the flavors beautifully.

If you’re following a vegan or vegetarian diet, it’s easy to adapt by using vegetable stock instead of white stock and skipping the Parmesan—still delicious and full of flavor.

All in all, Soup alla Canavese is a tasty, healthy dish that’s perfect for a family dinner or a quiet night at home. Trust me, once you try it, it’ll become one of your go-to comfort foods.

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