Cranberry Bean and Chicory Soup

A small dose of bitterness is a desirable thing, Italians have long since found. Like the chili in Thai cooking, it sends a quickening shock of energy coursing through the palate, but unlike the most potent chilies, it is meant not to step out front but to slip its message into the dialogue conducted by the other ingredients. Such is catalogna’s role in this soup. Yet another member of the prolific chicory family to which the many varieties of radicchio belong, catalogna is a