Puntarelle soup with various garnishes

Ingredients for 3 servings:

• 300 g vegetables (Puntarelle – chicory, Asteraceae)
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 small onion(s)
• 2 garlic cloves
• 1 tsp sea salt
• ½ tsp raw cane sugar
• 400 ml water
• 200 ml cream, crème fraîche, cream cheese or soy cuisine
• 2 eggs, hard-boiled, chopped
• 2 slice(s) bread(s), diced and toasted
• 2 large tomatoes, chopped
• 1 large onion(s)
• 1 pancake, cut into strips

Instructions

Working time approx. 25 minutes; Cooking/baking time approx. 15 minutes; Total time approx. 40 minutes

Vegetables from Central or Southern Italy

Wash the puntarelle and dry slightly with a cloth or paper towel. Both the hollow inner parts and the dandelion-like leaves are used for the soup.* Chop the hollow parts with a knife and chop the long leaves with kitchen scissors. Peel and dice the onion. Peel and chop the garlic cloves. Prepare and set aside your chosen side dish: hard-boil eggs, skin the tomatoes in hot water and chop them, slice the bread and toast them, slice the onion and toast them, or cut a pancake into thin strips. Heat the oil in a soup pot, sauté the onion and garlic. Add the sliced ​​puntarelle and sauté briefly, then add the water and cream/cheese product or soy sauce. Heat the soup for about 10-15 minutes, then puree it in a blender. Season the soup again with salt and pepper and serve. Ladle the soup into soup bowls and add the selected garnish. * Inside the plant are tasty, green, hollow bodies, about the thickness of a thumb. These are eaten primarily as vegetables in central and southern Italy. The outer leaves resemble dandelions and are also edible. The soup has a pleasantly bitter taste, reminiscent of chicory or endive. Hildegard von Bingen appreciated the cleansing effect of the bitter substances.