Tasty Tuscan Soup and Another Nice Spinach Salad

Last night, I made one of my favorite Tuscan soups, Acqua Cotta Maremmana, and served it with a Giada de Laurentiis spinach salad that had a very tasty homemade dressing. The soup is from the Maremma area of Tuscany. Acqua Cotta means, "Cooked Water."
The reason it has this name is that the recipe uses water instead of stock or broth.

I served a 2008 Santa Cristina Sangiovese with the meal. This inexpensive Tuscan wine is always very pleasant. Since we once stayed next to the vineyard where it is produced, it brings back many fond memories.

While I mentioned Acqua Cotta in one of my first postings, I did not provide the recipe. This time, I will. I originally obtained the recipe from the web site http://www.florence-guide.it/. That recipe served 6. I scaled the recipe down by one third. I think it might still serve 6.

I chose the salad because I was looking to use some spinach in the frig in a salad that had Italian tastes. I found a nice recipe from Giada De Laurentiis. It was very easy to make and the homemade dressing was very tasty. The salad had only two ingredients - spinach combined with cooked and crumbled prosciutto. The dressing had a number of ingredients, but was very easy to make. I can see why the reviews for this salad give it a 5-star rating.

The Acqua Cotta recipe (I added the chili powder, garlic, and carrots from another recipe)

- 4 onions, finely diced
- 4 ripe tomatoes, diced
- 4 leafy celery sticks, finely diced
- 4 basil leaves
- 2 carrots, diced
- 2 cloves of garlic, finely diced
- salt and pepper
- 4 cups of water
- 4 pieces of toasted bread (I use either ciabatta or Tuscan bread)
- a little chili powder
- 6 tbsp of olive oil
- grated pecorino cheese

Cook the finely-cut onion, garlic, & carrots in a pan with the olive oil until tender. Add the tomatoes, celery, basil leaf, salt, and pepper. Cook all the ingredients for about half and hour, then add the water.  Cook another 30 minutes. Then add the eggs without breaking the yolk. Then cook the eggs for about 3 minutes or until the white is firm. Place the toasted bread in a small earthenware soup bowl and sprinkle the bread with the grated pecorino cheese, and pour the hot soup over the bread,

Spinach Salad Recipe

The recipe, copied from http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/giada-de-laurentiis/spinach-salad-with-orange-vinaigrette-recipe/index.html, is as follows.

Ingredients
- 6 slices of prosciutto
- 2 oranges, zested
- juice from 2 small oranges or 1 large orange (juice from the zested oranges)
- 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
- 2 tbsp of honey
- 1 garlic clove, peeled
- 3/4 teaspon of salt
- 3/4 teaspoon of freshly ground black pepper
- 3/4 cup of extra-virgin olive oil
- 10-12 ounces of prewashed spinach

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Place the prosciutto slices on a baking sheet and bake until just crisp, about 10 minutes. Let cool. Crumble the prosciutto slices into a container and store in the refrigerator.
In a blender, combine the orange zest, orange juice, balsamic vinegar, honey, garlic, salt, and pepper. Blend until smooth. With the blender running, add the olive oil in a steady stream until combined. Transfer to a container and store in the refrigerator.
To serve, put the spinach in a large bowl. Toss with enough of the vinaigrette to coat the spinach. Sprinkle with the crisp prosciutto crumbles, toss again, and serve.