Carabaccia - Delicious Florentine Ancestor of French Onion Soup

Last July, in Florence Italy, I enjoyed Carabaccia, a terrific, traditional Florentine onion soup. Surprisingly, I had never heard of this soup, despite two previous trips to Tuscany and research I had conducted about Tuscan cuisine. I decided to try making this soup when I returned to the U.S. Last night, I tried this easy recipe, and loved the results.

The word "carabaccia" is the name of a kind of barge that was used to transport salt and sand from one point of the Arno River in Florence to another.

Some say that this soup is the ancestor of French onion soup. Foodies who know Italian and French food are aware of the view that some of the origins of French haute cuisine date to the 16th Century, when Catherine de' Medici moved to France when she was wed to King Henry II of France. When Catherine moved to France, she was accompanied by a retinue that included Florentine chefs. In addition to introducing advanced cooking techniques, they also introduced the fork to France.

Whatever the history of this soup, the bottom line is that the taste is wonderful.

The recipe for the version of the soup I had at Trattoria del Pennello is on the restaurant's web site - http://www.ristoranteilpennello.it/index.php/341/?lang=en

However, I decided to make a slightly different version that I found on the following web site: http://www.kitchenintuscany.com/carabaccia-tuscan-onion-soup

I also modified the latter recipe by adding more celery and carrots.

While the recipe says it serves four, I think it would easily serve 6.

Ingredients
- 2 lbs onions, finely sliced
- 2 celery stalks, diced
- 2 carrots, diced
- 4 slices of Tuscan-style crusty bread (one for each bowl)
- 8 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 42 ounces of vegetable broth
- salt and pepper to taste
- Pecorino cheese for garnish

Directions
- Sauté the onions, celery, and carrots in the olive oil.
- At the same time, bring the vegetable broth to a boil.
- When the onions are soft, add the boiling vegetable broth and cook for about 40 minutes on low heat.
- Add salt and pepper to taste.
- Toast the bread and place a slice in each bowl.
- Pour the soup onto the bread and garnish with pecorino cheese. (I put the grated cheese on the toast before pouring the soup.)
- Serve hot.