June/July 2010 Saveur-inspired 2

http://www.saveur.com/article/Recipes/Umbrian-Vegetable-Soup-Zuppa-di-Verdure-allAgliata

This is a beautiful Summer soup! I just bought a basil plant and had leftover parsley from the clams...I had most of the other ingredients for this soup...I didn't have celery or frisee...I omitted the celery and used blanched dandelion greens instead of the frisee. I'm not keen on measuring when it comes to cooking...It can make the process cumbersome...I also don't like to have excess clean up...SO in a large jar I throw in a handful of basil, 4 cloves of garlic, poured in olive oil, a small handful of parsley, 1/2 medium onion (rough chopped) - then I put the hand blender directly into the jar and process until chunky. Follow the rest of the recipe...I also had leftover frozen sausage with cannellini beans that I had defrosted and diced the sausage into bite sized pieces.

Served with manchego and quince paste and a loaf of La Brea Pugliese from Costco!