So I promised you guys a pie recipe, but I’m giving you soup instead.  The main reason is that I don’t think my stomach can take another pie.  I meant to make a special recipe over Thanksgiving to share here, but the cake-pie thing I ended up making didn’t turn out quite as I imagined, due to a terribly written recipe that did not specify where the eggs were supposed to go.   So instead, you get a nice warm soup recipe for these cold rainy days, isn’t that nice?

This soup is not only satisfying, but also good for you! It is the perfect antidote for the post-Thanksgiving food coma days, when your digestive tract is feeling stuffy with residual butter and sugar from all that pie…or that could just be me.  We had way too many pies. There was never ending pie consumption; dessert, breakfast, snack… anytime is pie time.

This soup is made with leafy greens, chickpea flour, and shiitake mushrooms, but you could easily switch out the chickpea flour for instant polenta or even grits.  Also, any type of mushroom should work here, but I had shiitakes so that’s what I used.  This recipe is based loosely off an Appenine-Tuscan-Emilian recipe uncreatively called “zuppa gialla”, or yellow soup, which features instant polenta and a mix of mushrooms.

Zuppa Gialla con Funghi

leafy greens (I used mustard greens)

2 cups vegetable broth

4 tbsp chickpea flour

1 package shiitake mushrooms

1 tbsp balsamic vinegar

1 clove garlic

grated parmesan cheese

Bring the broth to a boil and add in your leafy greens, roughly chopped.  After about a minute, add the chickpea flour and stir to reduce clumping and continue to boil for about 10 minutes.  While the soup is cooking, in a separate pan warm 1 tbsp of olive oil and add the minced garlic clove, and sautee until it is golden.  Add the mushrooms, roughly chopped, and season with salt and pepper.  Sautee about 1 minute, then add the balsamic vinegar and continue cooking until the liquid in the pan has mostly evaporated.  Pour the yellow soup base into individual bowls and top with the mushrooms and some grated parmesan cheese.

Serves 2