The minestrone soup, queen of the table at Christmas and St. Stephen's, is a typical dish of the neapolitan tradition poor of yesteryear. The recipe calls for the perfect wedding (hence the birth of the name "married") between meat and vegetable, in a soup winter with a strong flavor that originally stems from the need to use the scraps of certain types of meat and flavor them with other herbs and vegetables. The result is a complete and flavorful dish that encapsulates the essence of ancient Neapolitan cuisine.

Known as "menesta maretata," the dish takes quite a long time to prepare: you must first devote yourself to the broth of meat and meanwhile cook the vegetables separately. The choice of the latter depends both on availability in the markets and on personal taste; they are usually added: chicories, scarurelle (small escarole), borage, cabbage, puntarelle and the torzella (regional variant of the kale), then also celery and carrot.

Meat selection is also varied and plentiful: in the Five hundred used to add sausages of various kinds, soppressate, bacon, ham, veal snout, pig's foot, jerky, and even ears. Of course, in the more "modern" version these cuts have been replaced and preferred by other leaner meats, such as the hen, the beef muscle, the fresh pork sausage (nnoglia), the ribs (tracchiulelle) and the pork rinds. To make the soup even tastier, some cheese at will, such as pecorino cheese o caciocavallo cheese, simple parmesan cheese, bread toasted or the scagliozzi, some fried pieces of polenta that would make the dish even more distinctive.

The origins of soup

The origins of soup are very old: there are several ideas about the origin of this recipe, and according to several food historians the first version of soup existed as early as in theancient Rome. This consideration is evidenced by one of the earliest recipe books, written by Marcus Gavio Apicius and titled De Re Coquinaria; at one point we talk about peas maritates to be cooked in a pot with brains, thrushes, snails, livers, leeks, and pepper: surely this would be a distant and primordial version of how we understand it today, but nonetheless anticipates a very similar preparation.

According to the most accepted theory, however, it is during spanish domination in Naples in the 14th century that was exported to Campania the "olla podrida", a dish based on pig, chorizo (spicy sausages), beans and vegetables, which from generation to generation has undergone several modifications and known many variations. In Lombardy In fact, after two centuries, the cassoeula, a winter dish made with cabbage and pork.

The recipe

Soup is classically prepared at Christmas but it is always a perfect dish to warm you up during cold winter days. Discover the recipe!

Ingredients for 10 people:

  • 10 Scarolelle bundles

  • 10 beet bundles

  • 10 Cicoriette bundles

  • 10 Borage bundles

  • 5 bundles of torzelle

  • 3 bundles of black broccoli

  • 1 Savoy Cabbage

  • q.b grated cheese

  • q.b salt

  • For the broth:

  • 1kg Beef Breastplate

  • 1kg of chicken

  • 600 gr. Neapolitan sausages

  • 3 ribs of celery

  • 2 Carrots

  • 1 garnished bunch (parsley, thyme, bay leaf and cloves)

  • 6 liters of cold water

Proceedings

  1. Start by preparing the broth: clean the chicken of its innards and cut it in half. Cut the beef into cubes according to the size you prefer, then rinse the carrots and celery ribs, cut them into long pieces and put everything on the stove in plenty of cold water after adding the garnished bunch and sausages.
  2. Bring everything to a boil then degrease the stock on the surface whenever necessary, letting it simmer for about 5 hours.
  3. In the meantime, clean and hull the seven vegetables separately, then blanch them, again separately, in plenty of salted water, and finally cool them in water and ice.
  4. When the broth is ready, separate the meat from the broth, while the latter should be strained through a fine-mesh strainer covered with a clean cloth.
  5. Bone the chicken then cut the sausages into rounds. In a pot finally combine all the vegetables, the three kinds of meat and the broth and heat it all up.
  6. At the end you can serve with a cheese of your choice, grated or flaked.