Clean the mushrooms (don’t wash them under running water but simply rub them with a damp cloth and dry them with kitchen paper), slice them thinly and sauté them with 8 spoonfuls of olive oil, the garlic and the thyme. After roughly 10 minutes add the tomatoes, and season with salt and pepper. Cook for about another 10 minutes and then pour in 1½ litres of hot water (or broth). Leave over the heat for roughly ½ an hour. In a mixing bowl, beat the eggs with a pinch of salt and 4 spoonfuls of cheese, then pour in the boiling hot “acquacotta” and stir well immediately so that the egg doesn’t coagulate; leave to rest for a few minutes. Put the slices of toasted bread in individual bowls, sprinkle with the remaining cheese and pour the “acquacotta” over them.
“Acquacotta”, originally a poor soup eaten by charcoal makers and herdsmen, despite its name (which literally means “cooked water”) is not a light soup made simply of water and herbs. Quite the contrary – water is actually a secondary ingredient, seeing all the other things that are in it. There are many recipes for this soup, and they vary according to the area of Tuscany (Arezzo, Siena, the Maremma).