Melis Family Minestrone

Prep:8hCook:2h

This bountiful dish is eaten for lunch every day by the world's longest-lived family, the Melises. Traditionally, it is made with whatever is growing in the garden, but it always includes beans and fregula, a toasted pebble-size semolina pasta that is popular in Sardinia. Fregula can be purchased at Italian markets or online. If you can't find fregula, any tiny pasta, such as Israeli couscous or acini di pepe, will do. My version also takes a little time to cook. As Gianni Pes points out, a longer cooking times melds the flavors and enhances the bioavailability of more nutrients, such as the lycopene in tomatoes and carotenoids and other antioxidants. A shorter cooking time will make a tasty dish as well, but nutritionally inferior. Traditionally, the minestrone is accompanied with slices of pane carasau, or Sardinian flat bread.

Updated at: Thu, 17 Aug 2023 13:06:26 GMT

Ingredients

4 servings

½ cfava beans

dried, peeled

½ cdried borlotti beans

or cranberry beans

⅓ cdried chickpeas

7 Tbsextra-virgin olive oil

1 cupyellow onion

medium, or white, chopped

2carrots

medium, peeled and chopped

2celery stalks

medium, chopped

2 tspminced garlic

1 x 28 ozcan crushed tomatoes

3yellow potatoes

medium, peeled and diced

1 ½ cfennel

chopped

¼ cfresh Italian flat-leaf parsley leaves

loosely packed, chopped

2 Tbsfresh basil leaves

chopped

⅔ cf couscous

Sardinian regula, Israeli, or acini di pepe pasta

½ tspsalt

½ tspfreshly ground black pepper

¼ cpecorino Romano

finely grated

Instructions

Step 1

Soak the fava beans, borlotti beans, and chickpeas in a large bowl of water for at least 8 hours or up to 16 hours (that is, overnight). Drain in a colander set in the sink. Rinse well.

Step 2

Warm 3 tbs of the olive oil in a large soup pot or Dutch oven set over medium-high heat. Add the onion, carrots, and celery; cook, stirring often, until soft but not browned, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook until fragrant, about 20 seconds.

Step 3

Stir in the tomatoes, potatoes, fennel, parsley, and basil, as well as the drained beans and chickpeas. Add enough water (6-8 cups) so that everything is submerged by 1 inch.

Step 4

Raise the heat to high and bring to a full boil. Reduce the heat to low and simmer slowly, uncovered, until the beans are tender, adding more water as necessary if the mixture gets too thick, about 1 1/2 hours.

Step 5

Stir in the pasta, salt, and pepper. Add up to 2 cups water if the soup seems too dry. Continue simmering, uncovered, until the pasta is tender, about 10 minutes.

Step 6

Pour 1 tbs of olive oil into each of four serving bowls. Divide the soup among them and top each with 1 tbs of the grated cheese.

Tips:

Step 7

You can vary the beans in the minestrone: pinto beans make a good substitute for borlotti beans, great northern or cannellini beans, for the favas.

Step 8

Use the stalks and fronds that come off a fennel bulb for the most intense flavor. No feathery fronds on the bulb? Add a tsp of fennel seeds to the aromatic vegetables you saute to begin the dish.

Step 9

Add other fresh vegetables from the garden or market, such as zucchini, cabbage, green beans, and cauliflower or broccoli florets.

Step 10

Want a stronger tomato taste? Stir in a tbs or two of tomato paste. You get the idea!