How to Season Italian Soups
Italian cooks know that it takes more than a sprinkling of oregano into a finished soup to produce an Italian taste. Season Italian soups right from the start and add ingredients at different stages to produce a characteristically Italian soup with layers of flavor. Follow these guidelines to master this fundamental soup-making technique.
- Difficulty:
- Moderately Easy
Instructions
Things You'll Need
- Butter
- Olive oil
- Onions
- Garlic
- Chopped vegetables
- Plum tomatoes
- Broth
- Cheese
- Herbs
-
-
1
Begin with the right cooking fat. Use butter mixed with olive oil.
-
2
Cook onions in an uncovered pot at medium temperature in the cooking fat until they are translucent but not browned. Cook garlic, if desired, for 30 to 60 seconds only.
-
3
Stir in other chopped vegetables one at a time to the onion-garlic flavor base. Allow each vegetable to cook for about three minutes before adding the next.
-
4
Decide whether the soup requires tomato. If so, choose canned Italian-style whole plum tomatoes packed in their own juice. Either chop the tomatoes coarsely or whirl them in the blender for a few seconds before adding them to the soup. Let the tomatoes cook with the onion-garlic vegetable mixture uncovered for at least ten minutes.
-
5
Select either chicken or beef broth, based upon the soup's main ingredient. Use chicken broth if the main ingredient is macaroni. Mix chicken and beef broths in equal amounts to produce a tasty broth for veal or meatballs. Plan to use chicken broth only in tomato soups.
-
6
Add grated cheese or melted cheese only at the end of cooking. However, add a 2 to 3-inch piece of the rind from Parmigiano-Reggiano when adding the broth. Remove the rind when the soup is finished cooking.
-
7
Complete the soup with fresh or dried herbs. Use oregano or marjoram for beef soups and tomato-based soups, sage for soups with pork, rosemary for bean soups, nutmeg for pasta soups, and mint for vegetable soups. Stir in either freshly chopped Italian parsley or fresh basil only when the soup has finished cooking completely.
-
1
