Categories: January

Ingredients

• 2 heads black cabbage (cavolo nero), about 200g
• 1 small stale loaf ciabatta
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 2 red onions, roughly chopped
• 1 carrot, roughly diced
• 3-4 celery sticks, roughly chopped
• 1 tsp salt
• 400g can borlotti beans in water
• 400g can plum tomatoes
• extra-virgin olive oil, to serve
• fresh Parmesan, grated, to serve

Directions

1. Pull the leaves from the stems of the black cabbage, like you would with a stalk of thyme or rosemary. Wash the leaves, shred roughly and set aside.

2. Slice the ciabatta, then tear into rough, bite-sized pieces. If it isn’t stale, pop the bread in an oven preheated to 150˚C/fan 130˚C/gas 2 for 15 minutes. Turn the oven off and leave the bread to go crusty.

3. Meanwhile, in a large saucepan, gently heat the oil and fry the garlic and onions for 1 minute. Add the carrot and celery, then the salt. Stir, reduce the heat as far as you can, cover, and sweat the veg for 10-15 minutes. Add the cabbage and cook for 2 minutes, stirring, until wilted. Increase the heat to high, add the beans, the water in their tin and the tomatoes. Refill the tomato can with water twice and add to the soup, then bring to the boil. Reduce the heat to a simmer for 45 minutes, or until tender. Divide the bread among bowls and pour in the soup. Douse quite liberally with extra-virgin olive oil and top with grated Parmesan.

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