Zuppa di taccole

Zuppa di taccole is a traditional vegetable soup hailing from Italy. The soup is usually made with a combination of peas or mangetout (snow peas), onions, garlic, chicken stock, pine nuts, bread, lemon juice, olive oil, parmesan, sugar, salt, and black pepper. The peas, onions, and garlic are cooked in chicken stock, then puréed. The pine nuts are pounded with the lemon juice and sugar, and the mixture is stirred into the purée and seasoned with salt and pepper. The bread is fried in olive oil until it becomes brown and crisp. A slice of fried bread is placed in the bottom of each bowl and sprinkled with parmesan. The soup is poured over the bread and served while piping hot, with heaps of extra parmesan served on the side.