Italian Minestrone Soup with Pancetta

Yesterday I had lunch at my brother Artur and my sister-in-law Sònia's house. It was an unplanned lunch: we spoke on the phone at 12:00 — how are you? where are you? shall we eat together? — and we decided to have lunch at 13:30 at their place.

You always eat well (and have fun) at their house.

This time my sister-in-law made her version of an Italian classic, minestrone, without pasta: a vegetable and pancetta soup, delicious, which reminded me of times past when my mother used to make it, or when I'd eaten it at some "tavola calda" in Italy.

She made it in no time, and it was really delicious. In fact it's surprising that something apparently so simple can taste so good.

Ingredients

• Pancetta (unsmoked; in Catalan we call it cansalada viada)
• Garlic
• Carrot
• Beans
• Celery
• Onion
• Parsley
• Assorted vegetables

Method

First cut the pancetta into small pieces and fry it in a little oil until nicely golden. Then add 3 or 4 cloves of garlic (if they're small, one per person is about right) and fry them a little so they release their flavour, then add the vegetables, also cut small. In this case my sister-in-law didn't cut them very small, and it worked very well too.

Brown the vegetables for about 2 minutes over a low heat, then add the water. Boil long enough for the vegetables to cook — about 15–20 minutes may be enough (but it depends on their size).

And there's your minestrone. At the table, sprinkle it with a good grated cheese: Parmigiano Reggiano, Grana Padano or, as in this case, an authentic Pecorino Romano are all great. AMAZING!

For the main course, she made the most of an excellent chicken stuffed with walnuts and prunes that she had, making a warm salad with the chicken, thinly sliced and briefly pan-fried, all dressed with a little top-quality Modena vinegar.

From the after-lunch chat we moved on to dinner, and for that she invited some Italian friends, Barbara and Fabrizio, with little Sofia. We cooked menjar blanc, polenta and other things, but that's for another post.

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