serves
4-6
prep
20 minutes
cook
1:25 hour
difficulty
Mid
serves
4-6
people
preparation
20
minutes
cooking
1:25
hour
difficulty
Mid
level
Ingredients
- 250 g (1 ¼ cups) dried cannellini beans
- 250 g (1 ¼ cups) dried borlotti beans
- 1 carrot
- 1 stalk celery
- 1 onion
- 250 g savoy cabbage
- 250 g cavolo nero (black Tuscan cabbage)
- 100 g trimmed silverbeet leaves
- 1 leek, green section trimmed
- 1 potato
- 2 ½ tbsp extra virgin olive oil, plus extra to drizzle
- 400 g canned chopped tomatoes
- salt and pepper, to taste
- 1 loaf of bread “pane di casa” or “casereccio”
The following recipe has been tested and edited by SBS Food and may differ slightly from the podcast.
Soaking time Overnight
Instructions
Soak cannellini and borlotti beans the night before in abundant water.
Drain beans, place in a saucepan full of fresh water (about 3 litres), bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce heat to low and simmer for 30 minutes, or until tender. Do not drain! Meanwhile, dice carrot, celery and onion, remove stalks from savoy cabbage, black cabbage and silverbeet, cut all vegetables into small pieces.
Add oil to a second saucepan and cook the carrot, celery, onion, cabbages, silverbeet, leek and potato over medium-high heat for 5 minutes, stirring, or until starting to soften . Add tomatoes, salt and pepper to taste, and 1 litre of the bean cooking liquid. Bring just to a boil over high heat, then reduce heat and simmer gently for 12-15 minutes, or until vegetables are tender.
Take two-thirds of the drained cooked beans, ¼ cupof cooked vegetables and blend until creamy. Return the blended beans to the saucepan and simmer for another 10–15 minutes. Add remaining drained whole cooked beans to the soup.
Add 2 slices of bread to each plate and pour soup on top. Rest for roughly 10 minutes, drizzle with olive oil and serve.
Photography by Alan Benson. Styling by Michelle Noerianto.
Cook's Notes
Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.
