Peasant recipe, handed down by grandmothers and great-grandmothers. In a few ingredients the story of a very strong identity
I speak of the Valpellinese soup, or even Valdostana soup, more just to call it with its sweet name in patois, the fascinating local ancient language; many names, some variations, but the substance is always the same, a soup of substance, handed down from the grandmothers, transcribed in the notebooks of recipes that are held at home, tells in a few ingredients the history of a region that has been certified by municipal certification De.CO that recognizes its typicality and respect for tradition.
I tasted the seupa, not in Valpelline where it was born and where it is celebrated every year at the festival for the patronal feast of San Pantaleone, but at Morgex, a few km from Courmayeur, in the cozy home of the Bovard family.
Before telling you this recipe two words are to be spent for Diego Bovard: agronomist, born and raised in Valle d'Aosta, an indefinable love for the territory, that valdôtain, small but extremely rich in products, traditions, nature, and an energy that takes power from the earth and turns into a story and takes you into a small world of excellence. The best cheeses, the best flours, the best cured meats, the best people behind all this. Diego Bovard knows everyone and every day he invents new ways to make agriculture sustainable, to enhance the products of the valleys, and to get to the heart – or maybe belly! – of people.
There soupa instead?
Her wife cooked it and both my heart and my tummy are conquered.
Peasant dish, very few ingredients, stale bread, fontina (DOP course), broth. Some changes from home to home. The broth in the tradition would be cabbage, some use that of meat, the layers of white bread and fontina, someone uses black bread, wholemeal, rye, and cabbage leaves, a pinch of cinnamon … The final touch, butter melted, a lot of melted butter.
Here is the recipe
Ingredients for the soupa à la Vapelenentse
500 g of Savoy cabbage
300 g of fontina Valdostana
Stale rye bread (or white bread)
1 l of beef broth (or cabbage)
100 g of butter
Method
Put to heat the meat broth you have already prepared (the recipe, if you want it, is here). Otherwise prepare a broth only with the most external leaves of the Savoy cabbage.
Meanwhile clean the cabbage removing the torzolo and leafing through it gently.
Cut the stale bread into slices of one centimeter and lay it on the bottom of a buttered ground, placing them close together so as not to leave any space.
At this point alternate a layer of bread, one of cabbage leaves and one of fontina. The last layer must be fontina.
Wet everything with the stock and place in the oven at 200 ° -220 ° until a nice golden crust has formed.
Serve the soup covered with melted butter and … Bon Appètit!
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