Genoan style soup "Minestra alla genovese"

Liguria


Cooking time: 1 hour and 10 minutes
Difficulty:
Ingredients, amounts for 4 people:
  • garlic:
  • basil:
  • swiss chard/beet greens: a few leaves
  • broth/stock: 2 pints
  • carrots: 2
  • savoy cabbage: 1 small
  • onion: 1
  • fresh beans: 3 ˝ oz
  • Parmesan cheese:
  • dried 'lasagna' pasta (broad flat noodles): 7 oz
  • lettuce:
  • olive oil:
  • red chilli pepper: 1 small piece
  • parsley:
  • cured ham: 1 slice
  • rosemary:
  • salt:
  • tomato sauce:
  • celery: 1 stalk
Preparation:
Boil the beans in lightly salted water. Put into the soup saucepan three tablespoons of oil, the chopped up onion and celery and the thinly sliced ham. Put the pan over the heat and sauté the ingredients. When the onion has browned, add the cabbage and the carrots, both finely chopped, the Swiss chard/beet greens and the lettuce, both washed and cut into thin strips, the cooked beans and a teaspoon of tomato sauce. Pour the broth/stock into the saucepan and cook. In the meantime, chop up the garlic finely with the parsley, a few small basil leaves and six small rosemary leaves. Put these ingredients into a mortar, add 2 or 3 tablespoons of Parmesan cheese, a small piece of chilli pepper and 2 tablespoons of oil. Using the pestle, crush these ingredients to a paste and then pass through a sieve. As soon as the vegetables are ready, add the pasta (the lasagne) and the prepared “pesto” (paste). Mix together and when the lasagne are still ‘al dente’, cover with Parmesan cheese; serve after a few minutes.