Minestra (Italian Vegetable Soup)

Ingredients

• 60 grams fresh pork belly
• 40 grams fat pork
• 0.5 onion
• 2 leek whites
• 1.75 liters light white consommé (or water)
• 1 medium carrot
• 1 small turnip
• 1 stalk celery
• 1 medium potato
• 100 grams cabbage heart
• 2 small tomatoes
• 1.5 deciliters fresh peas
• 40 grams green beans
• 100 grams rice or broken spaghetti
• 6 grams garlic
• 2 grams basil
• 1 pinch chervil leaves
• 15 grams fat pork

Instructions

1. Mince the fresh pork belly finely and mix it with the grated fat pork.
2. Melt and heat this lard mixture in a heavy-bottomed pot. Add the minced onion and sliced leek whites, and sauté for 10 minutes until softened.
3. Pour in the light white consommé (or water, seasoning with salt if using water). Bring to a simmer.
4. Add the carrot, turnip, celery, and potato, cut into paysanne style (thin rustic slices) or large brunoise (¼-inch cubes). Add the sliced cabbage heart and the peeled, squeezed, and minced tomatoes.
5. After 25 minutes of cooking, add the fresh peas, green beans broken into small pieces, and the rice or broken spaghetti.
6. Continue cooking gently and slowly for another hour.
7. At the last moment, stir in the crushed garlic, basil, minced chervil leaves, and grated fat pork, folding these together into a paste-like mixture.
8. Serve immediately.