Minestrone alla Milanese

Ingredients

• 200 g borlotti beans, dried, soaked overnight, cooked separately until tender
• 80 g lard, divided: 60 g for soffritto, 20 g for pesto milanese
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 2 carrots, cut into small dice
• 2 stalks celery, cut into small dice
• 300 g potatoes, peeled, cut into small dice
• 250 g savoy cabbage, shredded
• 200 g canned or fresh plum tomatoes, roughly chopped
• 1.5 litres water or light vegetable broth
• 1 Parmigiano-Reggiano rind, added whole during simmering
• 150 g Arborio rice, added raw to simmering soup
• For the pesto milanese
• 1 small bunch fresh basil, leaves only
• 2 cloves garlic, peeled
• 20 g lard, softened
• To finish
• 60 g Parmigiano-Reggiano, freshly grated, to serve at table

Method

1. 1
   Soak the borlotti beans overnight in cold water. Drain, cover with fresh cold water, and cook at a steady simmer until completely tender but intact. Drain and reserve. The beans are ready when they yield without resistance to a thumbnail but hold their shape.
2. 2
   In a large, heavy pot, melt 60 g of lard over a medium flame. Add the onion, carrot and celery. Cook the soffritto slowly, stirring occasionally, until the onion is completely soft and faintly golden at the edges — allow 12 to 15 minutes. The lard must not smoke; the vegetables must not colour deeply. The fat will smell sweet and the vegetables will be translucent.
3. 3
   Add the tomatoes to the soffritto and stir to combine. Cook for five minutes until they collapse into the fat. Add the potatoes and cabbage, stir to coat, then pour in the water or broth. Add the Parmigiano rind. Bring to a gentle boil, then reduce to a low simmer and cook, partially covered, for 90 minutes. The soup must be thick and the vegetables fully melded; the broth will have reduced and deepened in colour.
4. 4
   Add the cooked borlotti beans and stir gently to incorporate, avoiding breakage. Continue to simmer for a further five minutes to warm through.
5. 5
   This is where the dish lives or dies: stir in the Arborio rice raw, directly into the simmering soup. Maintain a steady, gentle simmer — never a rolling boil — for exactly 18 minutes, stirring frequently to prevent the rice from catching on the base. The rice is done when it is swollen and just tender at the centre, and a spoon stood upright in the pot holds briefly before falling. The broth will have thickened considerably around the starch released from the rice.
6. 6
   While the rice finishes, prepare the pesto milanese. Pound the basil leaves and garlic together to a fine paste — by mortar or by hand-chopping — then work in the 20 g of softened lard until a cohesive, fragrant green paste forms. This preparation must remain raw and must not be heated at any point. The paste is ready when the basil is fully broken down and the smell is bright and sharp.
7. 7
   Remove the pot from the heat and remove the Parmigiano rind. Stir the raw pesto milanese through the soup at the moment of service. Ladle into warmed bowls and pass grated Parmigiano-Reggiano at the table.