This is a loose, family-style recipe for a delicious summer vegetable stew; use what you have and what you like. Cianfotta means “tasty and colorful,” so keep it light and bright, without too many starchy vegetables. If you like capers, add a teaspoon or two along with the stock for a salty kick.
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 medium onion, finely diced
- 1 medium celery stalk, finely chopped
- 1 medium carrot, peeled and finely diced
- 3 garlic cloves, crushed
- 1 medium fennel bulb, trimmed and cut into 8 wedges
- Handful of fresh marjoram or oregano, coarsely chopped
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 small eggplant, cut into ¾-inch/2 cm cubes
- 4 medium zucchini, sliced into ¾-inch/2 cm rounds
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 1¾ cups/400 ml hot vegetable stock
- 7 ounces/200 g cherry tomatoes, halved
- 7 ounces/200 g sugar snap peas
- 7 ounces/200 g snow peas
- 3½ ounces/100 g frozen baby peas
- 4 zucchini flowers (if available)
- Pecorino cheese, for serving
How to Make It
- Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Heat the oil in a large ovenproof casserole and sauté the onion until softened. Add the celery, carrot, garlic, fennel, marjoram, and bay leaf, cover, and sweat for another 5 minutes. Then add the eggplant and zucchini, season, stir, cover, and transfer to the oven for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally to release any stickiness from the pan base.
- Remove from the oven, add the vegetable stock and bring to a simmer. Add the cherry tomatoes, sugar snaps, snow peas, and baby peas. Season to taste, bring back to a simmer for 3 to 4 minutes, or until the vegetables are just cooked. Serve in deep soup bowls, with a decorative shaving of pecorino (+25 calories per tablespoon).
