Zuppetta di Cogne
In Cogne, in the Gran Paradiso National Park, stale bread was never thrown away. It was sliced, soaked in stock and covered with cheese. That is how zuppetta di Cogne, a very simple peasant soup, came about.
A peasant soup
Zuppetta comes from farmhouse cooking. It made use of hard bread and fed those who worked in the fields and the cowshed. It was not expected to be refined, only to be filling.
Ingredients
- stale black bread
- fontina, the semi-cooked cheese of the Aosta Valley, protected by a PDO
- meat stock
- butter
- cinnamon
How it is made
- Cut the black bread into thin slices.
- Arrange them in layers in a soup tureen.
- Between each layer, add pieces of fontina.
- Cover everything with hot stock.
- Finish with melted butter and a pinch of cinnamon.
When to serve it
It is eaten as a hot starter, or as a one-dish meal in winter. It is often served with a Torrette.
Some cooks now give it a modern twist: they add fresh herbs or replace the fontina with other local cheeses. The original version is still the favourite.
