My mother taught me how to prepare this traditional Italian pork shoulder dish. If you add enough herbs and spices, it is really tasty. Crackling is made by the pork skin, and it is delicious! Roasted red peppers, sausage, prosciutto, and other options are just a few of the many spices and foods you can cram into the roast. Eaters adore this dish!
| Prep Time: | 20 mins |
| Cook Time: | 1 hr 25 mins |
| Total Time: | 1 hr 45 mins |
| Servings: | 6 |
| Yield: | 6 servings |
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 3 ounces chopped pancetta
- 1 onion, diced
- 1 cup diced celery
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 4 cups chicken broth
- 2 cups water, plus more as needed
- 1 (28 ounce) can plum tomatoes, crushed fine
- 1 cup cranberry beans, shelled
- 2 cups chopped cabbage, or more to taste
- 1 (15 ounce) can garbanzo beans, drained
- 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes, or to taste
- 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 1 bunch Swiss chard, chopped
- ⅔ cup ditalini pasta
- salt and ground black pepper
- ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil, for drizzling
- ¼ cup finely grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
- ¼ cup chopped fresh Italian flat-leaf parsley
Instructions
- Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in large stock pot over medium-high heat. Add pancetta; cook and stir until it begins to brown, 2 to 3 minutes. Stir in onions and celery; cook and stir until onions start to turn translucent, about 3 minutes. Stir in minced garlic and cook for another minute.
- Pour chicken broth, water, and plum tomatoes into the pancetta and onion mixture. Bring to a simmer.
- Stir cranberry beans, cabbage, garbanzo beans, red pepper flakes, Italian seasoning, and 2 teaspoons salt into broth mixture. Bring to a simmer and cook until cranberry beans are tender, adding more water as needed if the soup becomes too thick, about 45 minutes.
- Stir in Swiss chard and simmer until softened, about 15 minutes. Season with salt and black pepper to taste.
- Stir in pasta and increase heat to medium-high and simmer until pasta is tender, about 15 minutes. Ladle into bowls and top with extra virgin olive oil, Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, and Italian parsley.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 484 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 54 g |
| Cholesterol | 16 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 14 g |
| Protein | 18 g |
| Saturated Fat | 5 g |
| Sodium | 2020 mg |
| Sugars | 8 g |
| Fat | 23 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
This is the second time I made this soup. My family loves it. I made a few substitutions: -I used spinach instead of the Swiss Shard. – I also added a splash of red wine at the end (approximately 1/4 cup). I also added a half pound of cooked ground turkey since my husband likes to think he isn’t a vegetarian. – Lastly I use a can of fire roasted tomatoes I didn’t have cabbage so didn’t add that. What I like about this soup it’s a has a good base and you can use what you have for substitutions.
What can you say about a Chef John recipe except once again he nailed it. I made this soup last night and made it as written and it was so good. We both loved it. The only thing I did was to add more liquid as the cooking ended. Next time I will simply add it in the beginning because it really did need it but I will make this many times over again. It was just plain pefect.
Best minestrone ever!!
It was good! I couldnt find the right pasta shape and I’m not sure about my water and salt amounts, but other than that, pretty cool!
I have made it a # of times. I was looking for something to fill the void left by the disappearance of Riviera Minestrone….and this more than took care of it. I vary it a little from time to time, I like adding pork to it and maybe some “ghost peppers” and vary the pasta. I really think it tastes best when refrigerated overnight and given the chance to thicken up……careful with the garlic, the flatulence is a killer :).
This is a very good, hearty soup, even with all my changes, which I made based on product availability and our particular preferences. I substituted a cup of diced ham for the pancetta, a handful of chopped baby spinach for the swiss chard, a 19 oz. can of kidney beans for the cranberry beans, 2 cups of packaged chopped cole slaw mix for the chopped cabbage, and freshly grated parmesan cheese for the cheese called for. I taste tested throughout the cooking process and added seasonings as needed. Unfortunately, my canned tomatoes were bitter and acidic so I had to add about 2 teaspoons of sugar and 1/4 teaspoon of baking soda about the end of the cook time to get rid of that taste. Oh, and I also cut back on the water and chicken broth by about one cup each because I prefer a thicker base. In spite of everything, it was pretty darned good, making enough soup for about 6 adult size servings. I did spend a lot of time hovering and stirring because it does thicken as it cooks. Served it with homemade dinner rolls, cole slaw, and fresh sliced pears. This soup is another All Recipes keeper.
I have made this soup 5 times already and it is my favorite!!!!!
Excellent as usual— chef John thank you- your recipes rule. You totally rock dude! And ur funny
Wow. Just. Wow. I could not find cranberry beans so I used Cannelini beans. That’s about the only change. OMG. Wonderful soup. My Italian friends were really impressed. Oh! I cooked the pasta separately and added to the bowls. I did not want the pasta to soak up the tasty broth. Double it! You won’t be sorry!
I just made this tonight-it is an EXCELLENT recipe. I made one modification: I was concerned about the salt content (my mother has hypertension) so I used 4 c. unsalted chicken broth AND 2 c. regular vegetable broth (slightly increased the amount of the other ingredients so the flavor did not get watered down).
Delicious! Omitted pancetta and used veggie broth to make it vegetarian. Used a can of kidney beans for the cranberry beans and added about 1.5 cups of diced red potatoes. Used spinach instead of chard and cooked the pasta separate so the noodles don’t get mushy. This is a keeper.
Absolutely gorgeous!!!
The noodles soaked up all the juice way to much soup my kids did not like it and me and my husband were stuck eating it for 2 weeks until it went bad. I do not recommend this recipe
This is my favorite soup ever. I just love it. I am a vegetarian so I left out the pancetta and chicken broth. I used homemade vegetable stock instead. I also cook my pasta separately as not to soak up all thr beautiful broth. I make this wonderful soup more often than any other.
This is an excellent minestrone soup recipe. My parents, who told me they didn’t like minestrone soup, changed their minds after tasting this one. We’ve made it twice now and it will join our regular recipe rotation. We did not change anything except for using cannellini beans instead of cranberry beans.
it was delicious, my family loved it
You should never mix tomatoes with raw beans during the cooking process if you wish the beans to become pliable. Tried with this recipe and still does not work.
Fabulous recipe! Made this on a cold rainy afternoon and it was just what the doctor ordered. Had a nice tangy sourdough bread and a glass of San Genovese to accompany it. I’ll definitely make this one again. Thanks, Chef John!
My family loved it, just like eating at a restaurant.
I forgot to buy the pancetta for this recipe, so I defrosted couple of boneless pork chops and the whole thing turned out super delish. Pork [in its many forms] is simply tasty.
very tasty