make sure you try the soup in Lucca

one of the best meals we had in Italy was in a restaurant that we stumbled upon at around 10:30pm after a long day of train rides and touring. It was a little too late at night to expect a reasonable dinner, but we sat down at the first restaurant we saw that still had people eating outside, and were excited to find that a) they were still serving dinner and b) that the first page of the menu at Trattoria Da Francesco was a review by Mark Bittman, food writer for the New York Times and author of my favorite cookbook How to Cook Everything. Although the review was more than four years old, he mentioned that the restaurant did a nice job with all of the local specialties, especially the soup, "make sure you try the soup."

The three main Luccan specialties are tortelli lucchese (meat filled crescent-shaped ravioli with ragu), sea bass (usually grilled whole) and a farro soup with beans and lentils (farro is a barleylike grain often referred to as "cereal").  The ravioli was good, very meaty. The sea bass arrived grilled whole and stuffed with one sprig of rosemary, it was fresh and the prototype of a simple, delicious dish. The star of the night, or so I felt, and the hands-down-best-thing I ate in all of Italy was the Cereal Soup, it didn't even sound good, but I ordered it because Mark Bittman said to try it and I trust him. He was right, and I was very pleased with my choice. I checked Mark's blog and he's already gone above and beyond to post the recipe for the masses.  Here it is, Cereal Soup from Lucca, delicious and a must try.

outside our room in Lucca.

walking through the square.

the center of Lucca.

The St. Martin Cathedral in Lucca.

LUCCAN FARRO SOUP
Recipe from Mark Bittman

Mark says, "If you can't find farro, use spelt. And if you can't find spelt, use barley. (And if you can't find barley -- where do you live? -- use wheatberries or brown rice."

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1 large onion, sliced
• 2 celery stalks, trimmed and chopped
• 2 carrots, peeled and chopped
• Salt and pepper
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic
• 1 cup farro, spelt or barley
• 1 cup dried white beans, soaked for several hours or overnight
• 2 cups chopped tomatoes (canned are fine; do not drain)
• 6 cups stock or water, more as necessary
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh basil, optional
• Freshly grated Parmesan

Method

• 1. Put oil in a large, deep saucepan over medium heat; a minute later add onion, celery, carrots, a large pinch of salt and some pepper. Cook until vegetables are glossy and onion is softened, 5 to 10 minutes. Add garlic, and stir; add farro, beans, tomatoes and stock, and stir.
• 2. Bring to a boil, then adjust heat so mixture simmers steadily. Cook until farro and beans are tender, at least an hour, adding stock or water as necessary if mixture becomes too thick. Stir in parsley and basil (if using), then cook another 5 minutes. Taste and adjust seasoning, then serve with lots of Parmesan.