Minestre Invernali: Hearty soups to keep you warm in winter.
WINTER IS DRAWING NEAR for those of us in the Northern Hemisphere, and I envy those fortunate enough to live below the equator. Pity them, too, because it’ll soon be much too hot for them to enjoy a hearty vegetable soup – there’s nothing quite like one when the winter winds moan among the chimneys, rattling the roof tiles, and the skies turn a leaky leaden gray. These are all Tuscan.
MINESTRA DI PANE E RIBOLLITA
Minestra di pane is one of the best uses for sliced Tuscan bread (crusty, firm of crumb, and without salt) I have ever come across. Tuscans make this hearty winter soup with cavolo nero, a long-leafed variety of winter cabbage whose leaves are a very dark purplish green. If you cannot find cavolo nero, use the tender small leaves of black-leaf kale. To serve six you will need:
- 1 pound dried white beans, washed and soaked for three hours
- A small onion, a small carrot, a six inch stick of celery, and a small bunch of parsley, minced together
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 1 1/2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 1/2 pound cavolo nero or black-leaf kale, shredded
- 1 pound beet greens, ribbed and shredded
- 1/2 pound potatoes, peeled and diced
- Salt, pepper, and a sprig of thyme
- Thinly sliced day old Italian or French white bread
- Olive oil (to be used at the table)
Boil the beans in lightly salted water. When they’re almost cooked, sauté the onion mixture in the oil, in a heavy bottomed pot. When the onion has become translucent, add the tomato paste and the liquid from the beans. Add the cabbage, beet greens, and potatoes. Stir in the beans and season to taste with salt, pepper, and a sprig of thyme. Simmer until the potatoes are cooked (taste a piece for doneness), and remove the thyme. Take an oven-proof serving dish and fill it with alternating layers of thinly sliced bread and soup, making sure the bread is damp, until the soup is used up.
Served immediately, this dish is called minestra di pane, or bread soup. However, it improves dramatically with age, so much that when it’s reheated and served the next day it’s called ribollita, reboiled, and is one of the few reasons to get excited about the arrival of winter.
Serve it as a first course, with a cruet of extra virgin olive oil so your diners can sprinkle it into their soup according to their taste. The wine? A light zesty red, for example a Chianti Putto would go well, as would a rosé.
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MINESTRONE
Minestrone is one of the commonest dishes in Italy, and every region has its own variety. This recipe is based on the one given by Pellegrino Artusi, the late dean of Italian gastronomes; his preamble gives a sobering view of nineteenth century life:
"In the summer of 1855 I was in Livorno; cholera was slithering here and there in many provinces of Italy, and had everyone dreading a general epidemic, which in fact burst out forthwith. One Saturday evening I went into an inn and asked "What kind of soup do you have?" "Minestrone," was the answer. "Bring me the minestrone," said I. I dined, took a walk, and went to bed, in a room in a spanking new hotel owned by a Mr. Dominici, in Piazza del Voltone. During the night my insides rebelled in a most frightful manner, and I went to and from the privy until dawn, damning the minestrone all the while. The next morning I fled to Florence, where I recovered immediately. Monday came the sorry news that cholera had broken out in Livorno, and Mr. Dominici had been the first fatality - minestrone indeed!
The vegetables listed below are indicative: Feel free to modify the recipe according to your tastes and what's available.
- 2 quarts simmering broth
- 1/2 cup beans dried beans, or a cup fresh beans. If they’re dried, cook them half way with water and then switch them to the broth, otherwise cook them directly in the broth.
- 1 packed cup each shredded Savoy cabbage, spinach, and beet greens, heated in a pot until they wilt, and drained well
- A clove of garlic, crushed
- A bunch of parsley, a small carrot, a short celery stock, and a small onion, minced
- A zucchino and a potato, diced
- 1/2 cup of tomato sauce, or minced, seeded, and peeled (or canned) plum tomatoes
- 1/2 cup rice
- Salt and pepper to taste
- Boiling water
- Grated Parmigiano
Simmer the vegetables in the broth. When they’re almost done (taste a piece of potato), check seasoning, add the rice, and continue cooking, stirring gently. The rice should serve to absorb excess liquid, but if the soup gets too thick, add some boiling water.
Serve the soup with the grated cheese. Artusi observes that some people like to add shredded salt pork to their minestrone as well, and goes on to warn that the dish "is best avoided by those with weak stomachs." It will serve four as part of a one course meal, with a tossed salad. I’d serve it with a light red wine, or a fairly robust white. A good Vermentino would be quite nice.
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MINESTRA DI FAGIOLI
This bean soup is quite nice on a winter night.
- 1 pound fresh or 2/3 pound dried white beans - if you’re using dried beans, soak them for two hours
- 4 cloves of garlic, minced
- 1 bunch parsley, minced, or: a small bunch of parsley, minced, and a sprig of rosemary, not minced
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 heaping tablespoon tomato paste
- Salt and pepper to taste
Cook the beans in water to cover; salt to taste when they’re done. Remove and purée half of them.
Sauté the garlic and parsley in a pot. When the garlic is lightly browned, add the bean broth, ground black pepper to taste, and the tomato paste. If you are including the rosemary, add the sprig now. Cook for a few minutes and then stir in the whole and puréed beans. Let the soup, which should be rather thick, simmer for another 10-15 minutes, being careful that it doesn’t stick. Remove the sprig of rosemary, and serve hot.
Serves four to six.
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Zuppa Con L'Osso del Prosciutto
To close, a recipe for a soup cooked with a ham bone, drawn from a recipe in Aldo Santini’s La Cucina Maremmana, which he got from Donatella Cinelli, who may be better known for the Brunello she makes at Montalcino’s fattoria dei Barbi, but is also a superb cook. To make it you will need to cozy up to a butcher or delicatessen owner who has a prosciutto bone; in its absence substitute for it with the bone from a well seasoned and cured ham, such as one from Smithfield. It’s a slow-simmering soup that’s perfect for warming the whole house.
- The bones from one prosciutto (ask your deli person to set them aside for you)
- 3/4 pound beet tops (as a variation you could substitute tender leaves of kale)
- 2 medium-sized carrots
- 1 medium-sized onion
- 1 bunch of parsley
- 1 rib celery
- 3/4 pound dried white beans
- 3-4 ripe tomatoes
- 1/2 pound day-old Tuscan bread
- 1 cup freshly grated Parmigiano
Begin the day before you plan to serve the soup, by picking over the bones to remove any gristle or fat you may see, then immerse them in a pot of boiling water and leave them to soak over night. Soak the beans too. The next day put the bones in a pot of cold water; bring it to a boil and simmer them for an hour, then change the water and return the pot to the fire. Meanwhile, simmer the beans for about a half hour, and finely chop the remaining vegetables.
Once the prosciutto-bone water comes back to a boil stir in the minced vegetables and the beans. Simmer over low heat for 3-4 hours; you should aim to have about 1.5 quarts of soup when you’re done. Fish out the bones, pick away the meat and set it aside. Thinly slice the bread and lay it down in a heat-proof dish, alternating it with layers of soup and prosciutto pickings, and sprinkling everything generously with the Parmigiano. This will serve 4-6 as a one course meal, with a tossed salad and a zesty red or a rosé.
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In addition to these recipes, you will find a number of hearty soups in the Farro section, and a Ligurian Minestrone al Pesto.
Enjoy and keep warm,
Kyle Phillips
