Minestrone
INGREDIENTS
* 250g bacon, guanciale, or pancetta, 12 cloves garlic, olive oil, salt, pepper, cumin, pimentón, tomato paste.
* 400g tin crushed tomatoes, 2l chicken stock, thyme, oregano.
* 2 onions, 2 celery sticks, 2 carrots, ¼ small cabbage, 400g tin borlotti beans,
* Salt, pepper, chopped parsley, grated lemon zest.
Chop the bacon fairly coarsely and peel and crush the garlic. Gently fry them both with some olive oil in a large stewpan, until the bacon starts to look browned and the mixture starts to smell garlicky. Add some salt and pepper, a pinch of cumin and a big pinch of pimentón. Stir the mixture vigorously and keep it frying for a few minutes.
Add a big lump of tomato paste, stir it in and fry the mixture for another five minutes.
Blend the tomatoes to liquid. Plug in the slow-cooker and pour the chicken stock into it. Add the bacon mixture, a lot of thyme and oregano and the blended tomatoes. Cook the soup for a few hours, while you get everything else ready.
Peel the onions and chop them fairly coarsely. Trim the celery and chop it finely. Top and tail the carrots and chop them into small dice. Core the cabbage and shred it finely, picking out any big bits of rib or outer leaf. Put all the vegetables to fry in the same stewpan as you fried the bacon in, stirring them around as they fry, until the cabbage has collapsed somewhat and the onions are cooked through. Add the fried vegetables and the borlotti beans and stir them through and simmer the soup for another hour or so. Adjust the seasonings and put the soup on the table, with the parsley and the lemon.
Serves eight.
Serve it with grated Parmesan and some good bread, or grilled cheese on sourdough toast. Pesto is good too, but if you add the pesto to the soup and cook it for a while, it’s called soupe au pistou. By the by, you can add any leftover cooked meat or vegetables to the soup; just chop or shred them finely.
