Wedding Soup (Minestra Maritata)

This old-world tra­di­tion­al soup has dif­fer­ent roots than the canned ver­sion we all know. Orig­i­nal­ly, this pork and for­aged wild greens col­lab­o­ra­tion was made after pig slaugh­ters. The ​“mar­riage” referred in the title isn’t about mat­ri­mo­ny — it’s about the union of pork and greens and water to cre­ate some­thing greater than its parts.

WHAT TO DRINK

Our Reserve Carmenere adds an addi­tion­al lay­er to the union of pork and green fla­vors. Revered for its nat­ur­al herba­ceous fla­vor, the wine has enough palate weight and acid­i­ty to pair well with this soup.

RECIPE FOR THE HOME COOK AS FOLLOWS

1 lb. assort­ed pork (bones, sausages, cubed shoul­der, shank, etc)

2 – 3 sliced onions

hand­ful of gar­lic cloves, peeled and gen­tly smashed

¼ cup of olive oil

1 lb. rough­ly chopped hearty greens (chard, kale, net­tles, bor­age, cab­bage, etc)

4 cups water (or half qual­i­ty chick­en stock/​half water)

1 tbsp. of dried/​fresh chili (option­al)

Sea­son pork with salt in advance (from 1hr to overnight).

In a large pan, heat olive oil and brown off pork on all sides. Remove from pan, drain­ing off exces­sive fat. Reduce heat and add onions and gar­lic. Sea­son with salt as you go, adding chili if desired. Cov­er and sweat over low heat until ten­der and translu­cent, stir­ring peri­od­i­cal­ly. Once cooked through (about 10 mins) add the greens, sea­son and stir. Cook for a few min­utes to wilt the greens down. Add pork and water/​broth.

Bring to a sim­mer and place in 325F oven. Depend­ing upon your cuts, pork could be ready in 1.5 – 2 hours. Check every 30 min­utes, stir­ring and tast­ing and sea­son­ing (pork will be cooked through and safe to taste after first 30 min­utes). If you’d like some ​“fresh” greens, save some and add into pan for last 10 – 20 min­utes of cooking.

Serve with fresh cracked pep­per, driz­zle of good olive oil and crusty bread.

A NOTE FROM THE CHEF

Ide­al­ly, you’d make a week’s worth of soup — so, take your time, give it care and atten­tion through­out the process and you’ll be reward­ed with an after­noon of cook­ing alche­my and a week’s worth of nourishment.

Here, much like in the restau­rant, we like to begin on the stove and then fin­ish in the oven. We feel like we have bet­ter con­trol over the heat, reduc­tion of mois­ture and con­cen­tra­tion of fla­vors. If you don’t have an oven pan of size, a stock­pot on the stove works.

WEEK­DAY MEALS

Enjoy as a soup/​stew
With poached eggs for break­fast
Over polen­ta or rice
Tossed with pasta