Name: Zuppa di Farro (Tuscan Spelt Soup)
Yield: Serves 4 to 6
Cuisine: Italy
Ingredients: a handful of fresh basil leaves, torn into small pieces; about 1 litre/1 ¾ pints/4 cups vegetable, chicken or meat stock; a handful of fresh flat leaf parsley leaves, chopped; 1.8 kg/4 lb ripe plum tomatoes, seeded and chopped, or 400 g/14 oz canned chopped tomatoes (with juice); sea salt and ground black pepper; 200 g/7 oz whole spelt grain; 75 g/3 oz pancetta (smoked if possible), coarsely chopped; a few thyme sprigs; freshly grated pecorino or Parmesan cheese, to serve; 75 ml/5 tbsp extra virgin olive oil; 1 onion, finely sliced; 2 garlic cloves, left whole

Preparation info

Serves
4 to 6

Difficulty
Easy

Appears in

The Italian Regional Cookbook

By Valentina Harris

Published 2017

About

This hearty soup exists in many forms and is especially common in the Garfagnana region, the mountainous area north-west of Lucca, but it is popular in the rest of Tuscany as well, including along the Umbrian border. Spelt is an ancient grain, and is reminiscent of an era when wheat was simply not available in these parts. Recently, it has become fashionable all over the country, and is used in soups such as this one, or boiled, drained, cooled and turned into delicious salads.