Name: Zuppa vera Contadina (A True Country Soup)
Yield: Serves 6
Cuisine: Italian
Ingredients: 2 ounces lardo, pancetta, or salt pork; 1 cup (6½ ounces) dried borlotti or cranberry beans or 1½ (15-ounce) cans borlotti or cranberry beans, drained and rinsed well; 6 slices of country-style bread, slightly stale and lightly grilled; Extra-virgin olive oil for drizzling; ½ cup (2 ounces) freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese; Salt and pepper; 2 garlic cloves; 2 spring onions; ⅓ cup loosely packed flat-leaf parsley leaves; 2 large potatoes, peeled and diced; 2 carrots, finely chopped; 1 celery rib, finely chopped; 1 onion, finely chopped; About 8 cups chicken broth, preferably homemade; 2 teaspoons to 2 tablespoons fruity red wine, to taste

Preparation info

Serves
6

Difficulty
Medium

Appears in

In Nonna's Kitchen

By Carol Field

Published 1997

About

I think of this nourishing bean and vegetable soup as the Italian country equivalent of Proust’s madeleine because it inevitably brings back memories of childhood for countless Italians. It essentially asks you to empty the contents of the vegetable garden into a pot and let them cook together slowly, flavors melting and building one on the other. The soup is even better on the second day; just be sure to add extra stock or water when you warm it up because it will thicken as it sits at roo