Borlotti Bean, Tuscan Cabbage and Fregolone Soup

Name: Borlotti Bean, Tuscan Cabbage and Fregolone Soup (Minestra di Borlotti, Cavolo Nero e Fregolone)
Yield: Serves 6 as a first course
Cuisine: Italian
Ingredients: 100 g desiree potato (about 1 small potato), peeled; 1 carrot, peeled and finely diced; fine sea salt, for pasta water; 1 small brown onion, finely diced; ½ bunch cavolo nero, stems discarded, leaves roughly chopped; crusty bread, for serving; salt flakes and freshly ground black pepper, to taste; 50 ml extra virgin olive oil, plus extra for drizzling; 1 clove garlic, finely sliced; 3 bay leaves; 200 g fregolone; finely grated zest of 1 lemon; 1 stalk celery heart, finely diced; 2 sprigs thyme; 1 small sprig rosemary; 400 g canned peeled tomatoes, drained and squashed; 600 g fresh borlotti beans in pods, shelled

Minestra di Borlotti, Cavolo Nero e Fregolone

Preparation info

Serves
6
as a first course

Difficulty
Easy

Appears in

A Sardinian Cookbook

By Giovanni Pilu and Roberta Muir

Published 2012

About

Legumes, such as borlotti beans, lentils and chickpeas, need to be cooked over very low heat otherwise they’ll be tough. It’s also important to rest dishes such as soups before serving them; when I take a pot of soup off the heat to rest it, I partially cover it so the steam can still escape. Cavolo nero (sometimes called Tuscan cabbage), is a member of the cabbage family with thick, curly dark green leaves. It is becoming more widely available in greengrocers.