In Italy, soup is a big deal. Soups have the flavor and personality of the region they come from. In the south, you find a lot of starches, potatoes, beans, and spiciness. In the north, you find something lighter from a starch point of view, but heavier in meat and fish. In my house, soup was always made with whatever was available at that specific moment. If my mom came home with a basket of green veggies from the backyard, that’s what went into the soup. If my aunt came for a visit with twenty pounds of beans, that’s what went in. If my grandpa had shot a pheasant, it went in, and if we had meat, my mom made meatballs for Italian wedding soup (see recipe on here).
Anything you can eat with a spoon is a soup. (And please do not eat risotto with a spoon! Don’t you dare! If you cannot eat risotto with a fork, it’s too loose. And if it’s too loose, you don’t have risotto, you have soup.) Soups in Italy are full-blown meals with texture. We don’t drink soup, we eat soup. Cream of tomato soup? Lobster bisque? What? Give me a whole lobster diced and in fish broth and I’ll call it a soup.
My mom would save soup in the freezer for months at a time, because in Italy, every ten minutes somebody shows up at your house and you want to feed them. So you give them soup because you can do it ahead and freeze it and no one will say anything. You can’t freeze pasta or meat—those are taboos. But it’s okay to freeze soup. Nobody’s going to get upset about it.
Zuppa della Zia di Siena
SERVES 6–8
1 lb. dried cannellini beans, soaked overnight
3 tbsp. olive oil
lb. pancetta, medium dice
lb. hot Italian sausage, outer casings removed, medium dice
1 onion, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
cup dry white wine
¼ cup parsley, chopped
Salt and pepper
Lemon zest
Stale bread, for serving
Place the beans in a pot with salted water and bring to a boil. Adjust to a medium boil and cook until the beans are tender, about 1 hour. Drain the beans, reserving the cooking liquid.
Heat the oil in a large nonstick sauté pan over medium heat, then add the pancetta and the sausage and cook until they start to brown. Add the onion and continue cooking for about 5 minutes, or until it has softened, then add the garlic and cook for another minute.
Pour in the wine to deglaze the pan, and cook to reduce slightly. (See here for a tip on deglazing.) Add the beans and enough of the reserved bean-cooking liquid to cover everything, then add about another inch of liquid on top. Put a cover on the pan and let the beans simmer very gently for 10–15 minutes.
Stir in the parsley and adjust for salt and pepper. Transfer to a large, warmed serving dish, and garnish with grated lemon zest and stale bread cut into chunks.
Minestra di Fagioli
SERVES 6–8
We pureed the beans for my Nonna Maria, since she had no teeth and couldn’t chew. So believe it or not, this is a great dish to give your toddler or use as baby food, Italian style.
5 cups dried cannellini beans
2 heads garlic, peeled and separated into cloves
1 small bunch sage, stems tied with string
Salt and pepper
1 sprig rosemary
1 cup olive oil
2 cups red onions, diced small
2 cups Fabio’s Tomato Sauce (see recipe on here)
2 cups Arborio rice
Fresh basil leaves
Extra-virgin olive oil, for drizzling
Put the beans in a pot with the garlic, sage, a large pinch of salt, pepper, and rosemary. Add water to roughly 4 inches above the beans, and let them sit overnight at room temperature.
The next day, if water has been absorbed, add more water to keep it 4 inches higher than the beans. Then bring the beans to a boil and let them simmer over low heat for about an hour, until they are tender.
Discard half of the liquid in the pot, and remove the rosemary sprig and the sage bunch. (If small leaves remain, it’s okay. Don’t freak out and don’t fish for them.)
In a separate pot over medium heat, caramelize the onion in the olive oil, then add the tomato sauce and simmer for about 10 minutes. Add the rice and 2 cups of water and continue to simmer. Once all the water has been absorbed, about 10–15 minutes, add the tomato rice to the beans.
Bring the rice and beans to a light simmer and cook, covered, until the rice is tender, about 10 more minutes. Be sure to stir the soup often during this part of its cooking; it will tend to stick.
Serve with fresh basil and a good drizzle of extra-virgin olive oil.
Acquacotta
SERVES 4
cup olive oil
1 cup celery, diced
1 cup onion, diced
1 cup carrots, diced
1 small hot red chili pepper, diced
3 cloves garlic, grated on a microplane
Salt and pepper
1½ lb. spinach leaves, chopped
lb. fresh or canned plum tomatoes, chopped
lb. large mixed beans such as borlotti, cranberry, and Spanish white, dry or canned (see recipe instructions for when to add each kind)
2 quarts water, boiling
3 eggs plus 3 egg yolks
½ cup Pecorino cheese, grated
4 thin slices rustic bread, toasted
Place a heavy-bottomed casserole or Dutch oven over medium heat and add the oil, celery, onions, carrots, hot pepper, garlic, and some salt and pepper. Cook until the onions become translucent, about 8–10 minutes, then add the spinach and cook until it has wilted, about 2 minutes. Add the tomatoes and, if using dried beans, add them now. Continue cooking for about 15 minutes.
Add the boiling water, adjust the seasoning with salt and pepper, and simmer for another 35–40 minutes, adding more water if needed, until the beans are cooked. If using canned beans, add them to the pot for the final 10 minutes of simmer time. While the soup simmers, combine the eggs, egg yolks, and Pecorino in a bowl.
Place a slice of bread on the bottom of each soup bowl for serving. Then, while stirring continuously, add the egg-and-cheese mixture to the pot and keep stirring gently until the eggs are cooked.
Ladle the soup into the bowls and let the bread absorb it a bit before eating.
Zuppa Verde
SERVES 6
6 slices crusty bread
6 cloves garlic
1 tbsp. butter
1 large red onion, finely sliced
2 large bunches collard greens, mustard greens, or radish leaves, roughly chopped
2 cups baby spinach, roughly chopped
2 cups mâche, roughly chopped
1 tsp. baking soda
20 baby potatoes, sliced into ¼-inch rounds
3 cups vegetable stock (see recipe on here)
Salt and pepper
Preheat oven to 375°F.
Rub each slice of bread with a clove of garlic and toast in the oven for about 15 minutes, turning the slices for even browning.
Melt the butter in a large, deep saucepan over medium heat. Add the onion and sauté until tender and caramelized, about 10 minutes.
Add all the greens and cook over high heat until they are wilted, about 5 minutes, adding the baking soda to preserve color as you cook.
Add the potatoes and the stock, then cover and simmer over low heat until the greens are tender, about 15 minutes. Adjust for salt and pepper.
Place one slice of the garlic bread in each bowl and pour the soup over it to serve.
Minestrone
SERVES 4–6
1 cup cannellini or borlotti beans, dried
1 cup potatoes, diced
Salt and pepper
¼ cup olive oil
1 cup onion, diced
½ cup red onion, diced
1 cup carrots, diced
1 cup celery, diced
½ cup fennel, diced
1 cup zucchini, diced
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 bunch each: chard, kale or Tuscan cabbage, collard greens, spinach, stem ends removed, all roughly chopped
1 cup Fabio’s Tomato Sauce (see recipe on here)
5 cups vegetable stock (see recipe on here)
1 cup any small pasta
Parmesan cheese, grated
Extra-virgin olive oil, for serving
Place all the fondo ingredients into a tall stockpot over medium heat and cook for about 10–15 minutes, until the vegetables are caramelized. Add the garlic and keep cooking on low for another 5 minutes. By now the beans should be wrinkled and the potatoes barely cooked. Add all the greens and cook until they have lost their moisture and are completely wilted.
Now add the tomato sauce, stirring to coat the vegetables completely. Add 4 cups of the stock, reduce by 
over high heat, then add the pasta. If the soup looks too thick, add the rest of the stock.
When the pasta is cooked, pour the soup into bowls and top with grated Parmesan and extra-virgin olive oil.
TIP: Soup is a great place to use up spare pasta. Break up large noodles or just add small shapes whole.