Bean soup from tuscany

1 servings

Ingredients

Quantity	Measure	Ingredient
2	cups	Dried cannellini beans
2		Red onions
10		Sprigs fresh parsley leaves
1	large	Celery stalk
2	cloves	Garlic, peeled
1	tablespoon	Fresh basil
1	teaspoon	Fresh rosemary leaves
		Coarse grained salt
3		Fresh tomatos OR
3		Drained canned imported
		Italian tomatos
1	ounce	Boiled ham
1	ounce	Salt pork
¼	cup	Plus 8 ts olive oil
		Salt and freshly ground
		Pepper
½	teaspoon	Dried thyme OR
½	teaspoon	Tarragon
1	small	Savoy cabbage, (2 lbs)
8		Slices coarse Italian bread

Directions

Soak the beans overnight in cold water; rinse and drain. Coarsely chop one onion, parsley, celery, garlic, basil and rosemary. Place in stockpot. Add beans, coarse-grain salt to taste and 5 quarts of cold water. Cover and bring to a boil over medium heat, then simmer for about 1½ hours. Meanwhile, finely chop the remaining onion, chop up the tomatos in a food processor and cut the ham and salt pork into small pieces. Heat ¼ cup of the oil and lightly saute the onion, ham and salt pork for about 10 minutes, then add the tomatos. Taste for salt and pepper and add the thyme or tarragon. Simmer for about 10 minutes, then set aside. Clean and wash the cabbage. Cut into ½-inch strips. When the beans have finished cooking, remove about half the beans and vegetables with a slotted spoon and puree in a food processor. Return the puree to the stockpot and add enough cold water to make about 4 quarts liquid and bring to a boil. Add cabbage and simmer about 25 minutes, then add tomatos and meat to the stockpot and simmer 5 minutes longer. Toast the slices of bread and place in each individual soup bowl. Ladle the soup over the bread and serve, adding a ts of olive oil to each serving. NOTE: Dried herbs may be substituted for fresh using ⅓ to ½ ts dried for each Tb fresh, or to taste.