Simple soup and fancy fillet
ON 25 MARCH, we celebrated the great- est event in history, the Incarnation of Our Lord on the feast of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, when the Archangel Gabriel addressed her with the words: 'Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee,' and so He was and thus commenced Christianity. We are now entering Passion Week, followed by Holy Week, to prepare for glorious Easter, so I thought a hefty, meatless soup would be suitable for abstaining adults. I was reminded of this famous Tuscan soup at the River Café the other day, where a bunch of us were assem- bled for an olive oil tasting. The soup should really be made with the Italian black cabbage, but unless you grow it yourself it is not on the average vegetable barrow. I use Swiss chard and savoy cabbage instead.
La Ribollita
For the bean cooking: 8 oz dried cannellini beans
5 pints cold water 1 celery stalk 1 medium carrot, scraped 2 cloves garlic, peeled 1 tablespoon olive oil — extra virgin 2 oz salt bacon, prosciutto or pancetta in one piece (optional, not for Good Friday) Rock salt
For the soup: 2 celery stalks
1 large red onion 2 medium carrots, scraped 15 sprigs flat parsley — leaves only Piece of dried red chilli 6 tablespoons olive oil 3 large ripe tomatoes, peeled and chopped 1 lb Swiss chard, cut into 1" strips 1 lb savoy cabbage, cut into "2" strips 2 potatoes, roughly diced 4 cloves garlic, finely chopped Sprig of thyme or "2 teaspoon dried thyme Salt and freshly ground pepper 3 cups good stock 8 large slices good crusty bread — stale Extra virgin olive oil, best quality
Soak the beans overnight. Drain and rinse well under running water. Put the oil into a large saucepan. Add the chopped celery, garlic and carrot and fry gently for 10 minutes. Mix in the beans and the piece of bacon, then cover with the cold water. Bring to the boil, then simmer very gently until the beans are cooked but not broken (about an hour, depending on the age of the bean). Season with salt, mix well and cook for a further minute. Drain the beans but save the liquid. Put the beans in a bowl and cover with a wet cloth. For the soup, coarsely chop the celery, onion, carrots and parsley. Heat the olive oil in the pan, add the choppings and saute for 10 minutes, stirring with a wooden spoon. Then mix in the tomatoes and chilli and cook for a fur- ther five minutes. Pour in the liquid from the beans, season with salt, pepper and thyme, bring to the boil and simmer for 15 minutes. Meanwhile, soak the cabbage, chard and potatoes in cold water, drain and add to the soup. Cook for 45 minutes, adding stock if needed, though the sour) should be rather thick. Add the beans for the last five minutes. In a large earthen- ware or Pyrex bowl arrange a layer of the bread, then ladle soup on top of it; repeat this until all the bread and the soup are used up. Let it cool, then cover and refrig- erate. The next day reheat the ribollita and serve in big soup plates at room tempera- ture, with fresh olive oil poured over each serving. This is a wonderful soup and the perfect vehicle for really good olive oil. Now for solid meat. I have a kind fan in Johannesburg, who sent me the Cape cook- ery book. I don't know the names of half the things in it, but this is an entirely new (to me) method of serving beef fillet. The receipt is for a whole fillet, but that would cost about £50 here so I have whittled it down to suit my purse. Meat is very cheap in South Africa.
Fillet a la Meerlust with potato salad 1 lb piece fillet steak
1 large lemon 6 fluid oz olive oil 1 teaspoon dry mustard Freshly ground salt and pepper 1 clove garlic
Brown the piece of fillet in a hot, cast- iron frying pan just wiped with a bit of oil. The inside should remain raw. Allow to cool. Cut into thin slices and arrange on a suitable dish. In a jar combine the crushed garlic, lemon juice, mustard, salt, pepper and olive oil. Shake vigorously and pour over the meat. There must be enough sauce to moisten all the meat. Marinate for at least 6 hours, turning occasionally. It goes a terrible colour but is splendid to eat. Serve with a potato salad dressed with olive oil, lemon juice, garlic and strewn with parsley, chives and grated lemon peel garnished with watercress. A treat for Easter Monday maybe?
Jennifer Paterson
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