Le Virtù · Le Virtù Teramane
Abruzzo · soup · serves 10 · 1500 min total · hard
Teramo's May 1st soup. Tradition: 7 legumes + 7 vegetables + 7 pasta shapes + 7 meats + 7 herbs — symbolising the seven virtues. Made by women emptying every winter pantry to share with neighbours.
Ingredients
- 400 g mixed dried legumes (borlotti, cannellini, chickpeas, lentils, fava — 7 in total)
- 150 g pork rind, scored
- 1 bone prosciutto bone
- 1500 g seven spring vegetables (peas, broad beans, courgette, chard, spinach, escarole, artichoke)
- 300 g seven shapes of fresh pasta scraps
- 150 g pork sausage
- 150 g tiny meatballs
- 400 g tomato passata
- 1 large onion
- 120 ml olive oil
- 1 big handful mint, parsley, marjoram, dill, basil
- 100 g pecorino
Method
- Soak legumes overnight. Cook with pork rind and prosciutto bone 2 hours.
- Soffritto of onion in olive oil. Add tomato, cook 20 minutes.
- Add legumes with their broth, all the spring vegetables in order of cook time (longer ones first), sausage and meatballs.
- Simmer 30 minutes. Add pasta scraps in the last 8 minutes.
- Off heat, generous chopped herbs.
- Serve in deep bowls with pecorino, more olive oil, and an Italian saying: 'serve a quante più persone possibile' — serve as many people as possible.