Italian Christmas Soup with Vegetables, Legumes, Fennel, and Steamed Chestnuts
The subtle flavor of ground fennel seed adds a fragrant note to this unique vegetable soup. Rich, hearty, loaded with vegetables and legumes (and farro!), this award-worthy and very flavorful dish is topped with chunks of chewy steamed chestnuts.
The original recipe, created by Chef Alessandro Negrini in a Milanese Michelin star restaurant (Il Luogo di Aimo e Nadia), actually takes several days to make (including two days alone to soak chickpeas in an earthenware pot before cooking). I tried to share the original recipe here, but after adapting and testing, I decided I might be the only one willing to spend that much time preparing soup (except of course, the Michelin chefs in Milan).
I have shortened the process using canned beans and purchased broth, which shaved a lot of time away. There are still quite a few vegetables to prep, but that can be done ahead of time, and the soup itself barely needs half an hour to cook.
This recipe would be a wonderful appetizer course for a holiday meal. It is also delicious as a full meal with a crusty loaf of bread.
Italian Christmas Soup with Vegetables, Legumes, Fennel, and Roasted Chestnuts
Makes about 3 quarts (12 cups), twelve appetizer servings or six entrée servings
Ingredients
For White Bean Purée:
3 (15 ½ ounce) cans white kidney beans, drained and rinsed (yield = 4 ½ cups beans)
4 cups vegetable or chicken broth, divided use
2 cloves of garlic
2 tablespoons roughly chopped basil
1 tablespoon roughly chopped rosemary
For the soup:
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup very thinly sliced (on the diagonal) fresh spring/green onion (60 g)
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 ½ tablespoons fennel seeds (8g) = ground*
½ cup thinly sliced carrot coins (approx. 9 baby carrots) (50 g)
1 medium green celery stalk, trimmed, halved lengthwise, and thinly sliced on the diagonal (50 g)
¾ cup small dice white potato (50g) (optional)
½ cup finely chopped leek (only the white) (60 g) (ok to use equivalent amount of onion if leek not available)
2 cups roughly chopped/bite-sized black kale (cavallo nero) leaves, without ribs (50g)
1 cup sliced zucchini (50 g)
1 cup cooked chickpeas/garbanzo beans (if canned, be sure to rinse and drain well)
1 cup cooked farro or pearl barley
White Bean Purée plus 1 cup reserved cooked white kidney beans
1 ½ cup roughly cut/bite-size chard leaves (approx. 1 ½ leaves) (30 g)
4 c baby spinach (100 g) – remove stems and chop or tear into bite-sized pieces.
1 package Melissa’s Steamed and Peeled Fava Beans
½ cup fresh (or frozen and thawed) peas (50g)
1 package Melissa’s Peeled and Steamed Chestnuts, slightly crumbled
Garnish:
Olive oil drizzle
Chiffonade of Italian parsley and/or basil
*I have a coffee mill I use for grinding spices. You can also use a mortar and pestle.
Instructions
For White Bean Purée:
Add 3 ½ cups of the kidney beans to the bowl of a food processor or the jar of a blender. (Reserve the remaining cup of whole beans to add to the soup in the recipe below).
Add 1 cup of the broth, garlic, basil, and rosemary. Process or blend until smooth. Add extra broth if necessary to blend. (White Bean Purée can be made a day ahead at this point and refrigerated).
The remaining broth will be added in increments to the soup recipe below.
For soup:
Heat a 5-to-6-quart pot over medium-high heat. Add the oil and sauté the spring onion, garlic, and ground fennel seed for 2 minutes, stirring regularly. 
Add the carrot, celery, potato (if using), and leek. Cook over medium heat for 5 minutes, stirring regularly.
Add the black kale/ cavolo nero and cook for another 5 minutes, adding 1/2 cup broth. Continue cooking for another 2 minutes,
Add zucchini, remaining white kidney beans, chickpeas, and farro.
Add White Bean Purée and stir well. Soup should be thick but loose enough to stir in remaining ingredients, and more hot broth if necessary.
Add the chard leaves, baby spinach, fava beans, peas, and chestnuts. Simmer until just heated through, season with salt and pepper to taste. Garnish with fresh herbs.
