This is a very popular soup traditionally made once the new olive oil arrives in late October or November. My version is made with seasonal vegetables including borlotti beans, zucca (pumpkin), carrots, celery, onions, cabbage and potatoes. Of course new extra virgin olive oil is the star in this soup as you'll see in the instructions! In the past few weeks I have seen this recipe in 4 different publications, so I simply chose my favorite things about each recipe and created my own. Now that the weather is cool here in Umbria, a hearty vegetable soup is the perfect lunch dish, so I find I am making soup almost on a daily basis. We like to grill a slice of crusty, country Italian bread, rub it with garlic and drizzle it with oil and place it in the bottom of our soup bowls and then spoon the soup on top of it. By the time you have eaten down to the bottom of the bowl the bread has deliciously softened with all the flavors found in the soup.

I understand that most folks may not have access to newly pressed extra virgin olive oil, so instead simply buy a really good bottle of extra virgin oil to use in this soup. Most of the recipes I read for this soup used dried borlotti beans, and although I normally do not take shortcuts, I did not see a reason not to use canned here. I wanted my vegetables chunky for this soup so I cut them a little larger than I normally would for a soup. This flavor of this soup is even better the second day, but you may need to add extra liquid as it will thicken sitting in the refrigerator. This soup doesn't need anything fancy to garnish it apart from a good drizzle of the extra virgin olive oil, but I also enjoyed it served with a spoonful of my Black Celery Pesto on top. To make this soup vegetarian, simply leave out the chopped pancetta. This soup, like many Italian soups is best served very warm but not steaming hot. Too hot and you lose the complexity of the flavors.

2 Carrots Cut Into Large Dice

1 Medium Onion, Peeled And Cut Into Large Dice

2 Celery Sticks Cut Into Large Dice

3 Garlic Cloves, Peeled And Minced

1/2 Cup Pancetta, Finely Chopped

3 Tablespoons Olive Oil

6 Cabbage Leaves, Chopped

2 Medium Potatoes, Peeled & Cut Into 3/4 Inch Pieces

1 Cup Diced Pumpkin Cut Into 3/4 Inch Pieces

1 (28 Ounce) Can Borlotti Beans

1/3 Cup Chopped Fresh Parsley

Salt & Pepper

3 to 4 Tablespoons Extra Virgin Olive Oil

4 to 6 Cups Vegetable Or Chicken Broth

Slices Of Grilled Country Bread Rubbed With Garlic (Optional)

Additional Extra Virgin Olive Oil

In a heavy saucepan, heat the three tablespoons of olive oil, and then saute the onion, celery, pancetta, and carrots until the vegetables have softened and the pancetta is lightly browned. Add the garlic and cook an additional minute or two. Add 4 cup of broth, the chopped cabbage, potatoes, pumpkin, and parsley and cook over low heat for about 45 minutes or until the potatoes are fork tender. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Take 1/3 of the beans and puree them with three tablespoons of the olive oil and stir this into the soup. Add the remaining whole beans and continue to cook over low heat for an additional 15 minutes, adding the additional broth if soup is too thick.

Drizzle a little olive oil over each bread slice and then place it on the bottom of each bowl. Spoon the soup on top of the bread, and the drizzle each bowl well with additional olive oil. Serve very warm.

Buon Appetito!

Deborah Mele 2009