MINESTRA DI PASTA E FAGIOLI

Several years ago, I brought a cookbook back from San Francisco for my father who is of Italian descent.  It was from the restaurant Fior di'Italia, touted as America's oldest Italian Restaurant, established in 1886.  He gave it back to me a few days ago because he told me I'm cooking so much these days I should try some of the recipes and bring them over for him and my mother to try!  It was sitting on my desk the other day and I opened it up. I came across a recipe for a hearty Italian soup, and true to my mission to use what I have on hand, checked out my cabinets, fridge and basket to see what I had in stock.  I had pasta, anchovies, olive oil, parmesan cheese, some stalks of kinda old celery, cans of diced tomatoes and cannellini beans, stock, onions and garlic. I just needed to run out for some fresh sage and pancetta.

I had some swiss chard and the remains of a large bag of Chinese spinach (lasts a long time if stored in a plastic bag, unwashed, in the fridge drawer), so I took that out to add to the recipe.  Here's the recipe:

ON THE CUTTING BOARD:



Pasta, onions, garlic, celery, fresh sage, olive oil, organic beef stock,
diced tomatoes, cannellini beans, parmesan cheese, anchovies,
pancetta, swiss chard (Chinese spinach was an afterthought), butterleaf
lettuce and an orange bell pepper for a salad.

STEP ONE:



This recipe calls for a lot of chopping. I found it easier
to get it out of the way up front.  So...finely chop 2 onions,
3 stalks of celery and 6 garlic cloves (the recipe called for
4, but I added more!) and sage. Chop the pancetta and
anchovies.

STEP TWO:



In a large, heavy soup pot, heat 2 T. of olive oil
over medium heat. Add the pancetta and cook,
stirring, for 1 minute.  Add the celery and onion
and cook until onion is translucent, about 3 minutes.
Add the anchovies, garlic and sage and cook for
another couple of minutes.

STEP THREE:





Add the stock and tomatoes and bring to a boil,
then lower heat and simmer for 20 minutes. Add
the pasta that has been cooked to barely al dente
and cook for another 5 minutes. I had corkscrew
pasta on hand. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

STEP FOUR:





Heat a T. of oil in a wok (olive, grapeseed or
canola) and when it's very hot, throw in some
hot red pepper if you like the heat and add the swiss chard
and spinach (or any greens actually) along with a
few cloves of smashed garlic (I had a bunch of
barberries on hand, so I threw some of those in too).
Stir fry on high heat until barely wilted. Turn off the heat
and squeeze the juice of half a lemon on the greens and
douse with a generous grind of black pepper. Throw in
a pinch of seasalt and toss.

STEP FIVE:





Ladle the soup into bowls. Top with grated parmesan
cheese and a drizzle of good olive oil.  Top with the
greens and serve with garlic bread and a salad.

Enjoy this low-fat, healthy meal that takes under an hour from start to finish!

ALLA VOSTRA SALUTE!