Tuscan Honeymoon Soup

Jane*in*RI's Note:

I usually won't post a recipe unless someone requests it specifically, but I thought this one was unusual & interesting, and I couldn't find anything else like it on Zaar. It comes from "Flavors of Tuscany" by Nancy Harmon Jenkins. It is described in the book this way: "Traditionally this soup, with its odd mix of medieval spices, was an ancient restorative, intended to pick up the flagging spirits of the bride & groom the morning after their wedding."

• Total Time: 25 mins
• Prep Time: 10 mins
• Cook Time: 15 mins

Ingredients:

Servings: 4

• 6 cups chicken stock
• ½ cup dryvin santo or ½ cup dry amontillado sherry wine
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 4 large egg yolks
• 1 pinch ground cinnamon
• 1 pinch nutmeg , preferably freshly grated
• 4 tablespoons butter
• 1 pinch nutmeg (to garnish) (optional)
• 1 pinch sugar (to garnish) (optional)

Directions:

1. Beat together the chicken stock, sherry, honey and egg yolks in a large bowl.
2. Strain through a fine sieve into a soup pot.
3. Add the cinnamon and nutmeg and set the pot over very low heat.
4. Stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, add the butter a tablespoon at a time.
5. Keep stirring as the butter melts and dissolves into the soup, just as it would with a hollandaise sauce.
6. Continue stirring until the soup thickens.
7. DO NOT let it come to a boil or it will curdle.
8. When the soup is thick, pour into warm soup bowls and serve immediately, sprinkling the tops if you wish with a scrape of nutmeg and a few grains of sugar.
9. Cook time is an estimate as the recipe does not give it.