Melis Family Sardinian Minestrone Soup

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.

Cooking minestrone takes some time. A longer cooking time blends the flavors and enhances the bioavail­ability of various nutrients (lycopene in tomatoes, carotenoids in carrots, antioxidants, etc.) A shorter cooking time will create a tasty dish as well, but nutritionally inferior. Traditionally, the soup is served with slices of pane carasau, or Sardinian flat bread.

Servings: 4

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup dried peeled fava beans
• 1/2 cup dried cranberry beans
• 1⁄3 cup dried chickpeas
• 7 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 medium yellow or white onion, chopped (about 1 cup)
• 2 medium carrots, peeled and chopped (about 2⁄3 cup)
• 2 medium celery stalks, chopped (about 1/2 cup)
• 2 teaspoons minced garlic
• 1 (28-ounce) can crushed tomatoes (about 3½ cups)
• 3 medium yellow potatoes, peeled and diced (about 1½ cups)
• 1½ cups chopped fennel
• 1/4 cup loosely packed fresh Italian flat-leaf parsley leaves, chopped
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil leaves
• 2⁄3 cup of Sardinian fregula, Israeli couscous, or acini di pepe pasta
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1/4 cup finely grated pecorino Romano (about 2 ounces)

Directions:

1. Soak fava beans, cranberry 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.
2. Warm 3 tablespoons of olive oil in a large soup pot or Dutch oven set over medium-high heat. Add onion, carrots, and celery; cook, stirring often, until soft but not browned, about 5 minutes. Add garlic and cook until fragrant, about 20 seconds.
3. Stir in tomatoes, potatoes, fennel, parsley, and basil, as well as drained beans and chickpeas. Add enough water (6 to 8 cups) so that everything is submerged by 1 inch.
4. Raise heat to high and bring to a full boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer slowly, uncovered, until the beans are tender, adding more water as necessary if the mixture gets too thick, about 1½ hours.
5.  Stir in 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.
6. Pour 1 tablespoon of olive oil into each of four serving bowls. Divide the soup among them and top each with 1 tablespoon of the grated cheese.

Tips:

• Vary the beans in the minestrone: pinto beans make a good substitute for cranberry beans; great northern or cannellini beans, for the favas.
•  Use the stalks and fronds that come off a fennel bulb for the most intense flavor. No feathery fronds on the bulb? Add a teaspoon of fennel seeds to the aromatic vegetables you sauté to begin the dish.
• Add other fresh vegetables from the garden or market, such as zucchini, cabbage, green beans, and cauliflower or broccoli florets.
• For a stronger tomato taste, stir in a tablespoon or two of tomato paste.

Akentannos!

A Sardinian phrase meaning “until 100 years.”