58. Zuppa Toscana di Magro alla Contadina

Name: Zuppa Toscana di Magro alla Contadina (Meatless Tuscan Peasant Soup)
Ingredients: 1 red cabbage, about the same size and perhaps more; some rinds of bacon or prosciutto cut into strips; 1 potato; 1 bunch of beet greens and a little thyme; 1 head of a medium-sized Savoy or regular cabbage; 400 grams (about 14 ounces) of stale, soft brown bread; 300 grams (about 10-½ ounces) of white beans; 150 grams (about 5-¼ ounces) of oil; 2 liters (about 2 quarts) of water

Meatless Tuscan Peasant Soup

Preparation info

Difficulty
Easy

Appears in

Science in the Kitchen and the Art of Eating Well

By Pellegrino Artusi

Published 1998

About

Prepared with the necessary care, this “modest” soup—whence the epithet “peasant”—will, I am certain, be enjoyed by all, including the not so modest.

Ingredients

400 grams (about 14 ounces) of stale, soft brown bread
300 grams (about 10

Starter
Soup

Method

Put the beans on the fire in a pot with the water and bacon rinds. Beans, as you already know, are placed in cold water and if they absorb it all, you may add some hot water. While they are boiling, finely chop and mix one quarter of a large onion, two garlic cloves, two celery stalks the length of the palm of your hand, and a good pinch of parsley. Sauté all of this in oil, and when it begins