It’s not Christmas in San Severo if ‘a zuppett’. isn’t prepared.
The Sanseverese Soup is a traditional peasant dish made with toasted bread, turkey, and cheeses, baked in the oven and served on December 25th.
Every home, as always happens in these circumstances, has its version: some add fresh mozzarella alongside caciocavallo and dried mozzarella, some make it very tall, some drier, and some more brothy. There are also those who cook it on the stove first and then bake it to gratin… but the common denominator is just one: it’s delicious!
Think that when my son Marco attended elementary school, the teacher composed a poem in dialect which was then set to music and several years later was even included in a book about local and popular traditions.
Assembling the Sanseverese Soup is very easy because you just have to put the ingredients in the pan, soak with turkey broth, and cook. The beauty is that the broth, strictly turkey (preferably local), must be prepared on the 24th because it still has to cook for a long time… so usually, in our homes, on Christmas Eve (but also for New Year’s Eve), after the dinner, the lady of the house goes back to the stove and hence, along with the smell of peeled mandarins, one also smells the aroma of the broth slowly boiling on the stove.
If you are a fan of traditions and want to taste this delicacy, get the ingredients and let’s prepare it together.
This is the recipe that has been made in my house for generations.
READ THE TIPS AT THE END OF THE RECIPE.
OTHER INTERESTING RECIPES:
- Difficulty: Easy
- Cost: Medium
- Preparation time: 1 Hour 30 Minutes
- Portions: 8People
- Cooking methods: Oven
- Cuisine: Regional Italian
- Region: Puglia
- Seasonality: New Year's, Christmas
- Energy 477.50 (Kcal)
- Carbohydrates 21.89 (g) of which sugars 2.91 (g)
- Proteins 39.91 (g)
- Fat 25.36 (g) of which saturated 6.72 (g)of which unsaturated 6.51 (g)
- Fibers 1.78 (g)
- Sodium 3,884.20 (mg)
Indicative values for a portion of 180 g processed in an automated way starting from the nutritional information available on the CREA* and FoodData Central** databases. It is not food and / or nutritional advice.
* CREATES Food and Nutrition Research Center: https://www.crea.gov.it/alimenti-e-nutrizione https://www.alimentinutrizione.it ** U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. FoodData Central, 2019. https://fdc.nal.usda.gov
Ingredients
Regarding the bread, it’s better if it’s hard wheat or homemade, even a couple of days old. It should be toasted in the oven or on a grill and allowed to cool. However, today bakeries sell it already sliced and toasted.
To make a great soup, it’s necessary to start with a good turkey broth, which should be skimmed and filtered. It’s advisable to make it the night before, and after cooling, store it in an airtight container, in the fridge, preferably filtered.
- 1.1 lbs turkey (wings and breast are the most suitable parts)
- 10.5 oz rustic bread (toasted)
- 7 oz caciocavallo cheese (preferably Podolica)
- 7 oz scamorza cheese (dried)
- grated Parmesan cheese (to taste)
- meat broth (from turkey)
- 4.5 quarts water
- 1 carrot
- 1 white onion
- 1 celery (stalk with leaves)
- coarse salt (to taste)
Steps
Prepare the broth with turkey meat, celery, carrot, and onion and cover.
Skim and bring to a boil. Salt with coarse salt only towards the end of cooking. Then turn off and let cool. It’s advisable to remove the meat, filter, and store in the fridge.
Shred the cold turkey meat, removing any fatty parts.
Grate the caciocavallo cheese with a large-hole grater.
Grate or slice the dried scamorza cheese thinly.
Place the irregularly torn bread pieces at the bottom of the baking dish, and then continue with layers.
Add the meat, cheeses, and Parmesan.
Continue until you run out of ingredients or just below the edge of the baking dish.
Finish the last layer with a generous sprinkle of Parmesan, which will form the crust during cooking.
Add the broth, up to about half of the baking dish or a little more. It’s not advisable to add it all, as it might be needed later (some diners like to add broth to their plate as well). Bake for about 20 minutes in a preheated oven at 392°F, covering the dish with a sheet of aluminum foil; then uncover and place under the grill to brown the surface.
Tips:
In many homes, the soup is prepared, cooked in advance, and frozen. Then it is thawed in the fridge overnight and reheated. My mom always said it’s not the same… and I agree. It’s true that during those days there are many preparations, so if desired, it can be tried. It’s advisable to freeze the broth too as it might be needed.
In some families, fresh mozzarella is also added, always more or less “to taste” along with the other ingredients.
