The soup-stew, a bowl of spoon-tender meat, beans, and aromatics that partly collapse into the surrounding stock, is one of the suppers I hold dearest. More often taken as lunch, this is food that feeds the soul as much as the belly, enriching, calming, quietly energizing. This is the cooking on which to lavish the cheapest cuts going, the fatty, bony lumps that butchers sell at reduced prices: mostly cuts from the neck and lower legs. Ingredients whose sole purpose is to give body to the liquid in which they cook. A knuckle end of prosciutto would be a sound addition here, if your local deli will sell you one. Most will charge very little. Butchers are an excellent source of ham bones with much meat attached. Failing that, I use a lump of ham, complete with its thick layer of fat.
Recipe information
Yield
enough for 4 to 6
Ingredients
Preparation
Step 1
Soak the beans overnight in deep, cold water. Drain, put them in a large, deep saucepan, and cover them with fresh water. Bring to a boil, then remove the froth from the surface with a slotted spoon. Drop in the bay leaves and a tablespoon or so of olive oil and let boil merrily for forty-five minutes to an hour, until tender (older beans tend to take a little longer). Add salt to the water about twenty minutes before the end of cooking. Drain and set aside. (I sometimes put a shot of olive oil over them at this point to prevent them sticking together.)
Step 2
Cut the pancetta into short lengths or fat cubes, put them in a deep pan with a couple of spoonfuls of oil, and set over medium heat. Peel the onions, halve them, and slice them thinly. Once the pancetta has begun to sizzle, add the onions and stir them from time to time until they soften.
Step 3
Scrub the carrots, cut them into large dice, and add to the onions with the garlic. Let everything soften without coloring, lowering the heat as and when you need to. Add the tomatoes and let them soften and melt a little into the other vegetables before pouring in the water or stock. Peel and coarsely chop the squash or pumpkin and stir it in.
Step 4
Now is the time to add the ham bone and Parmesan rind. Either one will make a huge difference to the finished flavor. Bring the soup almost to a boil, then decrease the heat so that it simmers gently. Cover with a lid but set it askew, so that some of the steam escapes. Let simmer, with only the occasional stir, for an hour and a half, by which time the soup should be thick, rich, and heavy.
Step 5
Add the beans to the pot along with the parsley and cabbage leaves. Continue cooking for ten to fifteen minutes. Serve with grated Parmesan.
