I stayed in a hotel in the Dolomites in 2014 after a week’s cycling and had an amazing Dolomites vegetable soup. When I asked our lovely host Tiziana, the hotel owner for the recipe, she gave me a very suspicious look!
“The recipe?” she asked in a tone I couldn’t quite interpret.
Had I really just asked for the closest guarded secret in the Dolomites? Or perhaps in Italy there is no recipe for this Dolomites vegetable soup. Every self-respecting Italian just knows how to make it intuitively?
Not easily deterred, I asked my question in a different way. So what’s in it then? And how did you make it?
What followed was some hushed mutterings in Italian between Tiziana and one of the cooks in her kitchen. To this day I am not sure whether they were debating how much of their secret to share. Or they were just trying to remember what they had actually put in it that day.
In the end, they gave me the ingredients and just one cooking instruction. Simmer the soup gently for an hour.
I dont think there are any real rules when it comes to Italian vegetable soup so dont be scared to vary the quantities, or add in any other seasonal vegetables.
The chicken stock is the backbone to the flavour. I am sure it would work with vegetable stock. So if you prefer to make this vegetable stock vegetarian, then go for it.
This is a very pleasant, simple soup and is very close to that wonderful soup I enjoyed in the Dolomites. You can eat the soup as it is, or blend it to a smooth consistency. I like to eat half of it whole and blend the other half as you then get two meals in one.
Serve with some crusty bread.
Tiziana’s Dolomiti Vegetable Soup
Ingredients
- 3 tbsp Extra virgin olive oil
- 2 onions (finely sliced)
- 2 cloves of garlic (finely chopped)
- 2 carrots (finely chopped)
- 2 sticks of celery finely chopped
- 2 zucchini (chopped)
- 3 potatoes (diced)
- tomato
- 1.5 l chicken stock (preferably homemade)
- 150 g frozen peas
- 5-6 thyme sprigs
- 2 tbsp parsely (finely chopped.)
- salt and pepper
Instructions
- Heat 2 tbsp of oil and sweat the onions for 5 minutes until the begin to soften, and then add the carrots, celery and garlic and sweat for a further 10 minutes until all the vegetables are soft but not browned.
- Add the potatoes, zucchini and the tomato and stir for 1 minute to combine with the soffitto
- Add the chicken stock and bring to the boil.
- Add the peas and the herbs, then simmer gently for 1 hour.
- Remove the thyme stalks (the leaves will have disappeared into the soup) and then blend the soup (if desired).
- Serve into bowls and drizzle with extra virgin olive oil. Serve with crusty bread.
