Olive harvester's soup
A hearty, rustic Italian soup made with vegetables, beans and plenty of garlic-infused olive oil to enrich the flavour.
Ingredients
- 200g/7oz soaked dried cannellini or borlotti beans (don’t use pre-cooked beans)
- 6 whole garlic cloves, peeled
- 20g/¾oz fresh sage, chopped
- 150ml/¼ pint olive oil, plus extra to serve
- 2 tsp tomato purée
- 100²µ/3½´Ç³ú cavolo nero, chopped
- ½ spring cabbage, chopped
- 100²µ/3½´Ç³ú butternut squash, peeled and finely diced
- 1 onion, finely diced
- 1 carrot, peeled and finely diced
- 1 leek, diced
- ½ fennel bulb, finely diced
- 1 stick celery, finely diced
- 1 small courgette, finely diced
To garnish
Method
Add the beans, 4 garlic cloves and three quarters of sage to a large casserole pot. and simmer for around 1 hour 30 minutes until tender.
In another pan, warm the olive oil with two smashed garlic cloves and the rest of the chopped sage, then add the tomato purée to make a paste. This will take 3–4 minutes on medium heat.
Stir the paste into the beans and bring to the boil.
Add the cavolo nero, cabbage and squash then simmer for 10 minutes.
Add the onion, carrot, leek, fennel and celery. Simmer for another 10 minutes.
Stir in the courgette and simmer for another 5 minutes, then stir in the herbs and serve with a little drizzle of olive oil and the grilled focaccia.
