Millecosedde – a thousand little things
Millecosedde (lit. a thousand little things) is a traditional Italian soup or stew originating from Calabria. The soup is made with every type of dried beans available, chicken stock, onions, carrots, celery, cabbage, and wild mushrooms.
The combination is simmered in earthenware pots. Short tubular pasta is cooked in another bank, and it is later mixed with the vegetables. The soup is then dressed with olive oil and topped with grated pecorino cheese.
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup lentils,dry
- 1/2 cup beans, cannellini
- 1/2 cup beans, borlotti (cranberry
- Beans)
- 1/2 cup beans, fava
- 1/2 cup beans, garbonzas
- 1/2 ounce mushroom, porcini, dried
- 1 lb cabbage savoy raw shredded
- Cleaned
- 2 whole onions,red — peeled
- 2 stalks celery,raw,stalk
- 4 quart cold water
- 4 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 pound pasta (spaghetti or Linguine)
- Tsp olive oil
How to make the Millecosedde:
- this serves about 12 as a light course the way an italian dinner would be served.
- The dish is then dressed with fine extra virgin olive oil, a tsp.
- Per individual serving, much as americans might put a pat of butter on their veggies.
- With an italian bread and a salad it makes for ahealthy lunch or light supper meal.
- The porcini makes the flavor very special.
- Soak the lentils, beans and chick-peas in five different bowls of cold water overnight.
- The next morning, soak the mushrooms in a bowl of lukewarm water for 30 minutes.
- Rinse the beans, remove and discard the skins from the fava beans, and put all the beans in a large stockpot.
- Slice the cabbage into 1/2-inch strips, coarsely chop the onions and celery, and add the vegetables to the pot.
- Drain the mushrooms, making sure no sand is attached to the stems, and place the pot over medium heat.
- When water reaches a boil, simmer for 1 hour.
- When all the vegetables and legumes are almost cooked, add coarse salt to taste, then add the oil 4 tsp mixing very well.
- When the soup reacxhes a boil again, add the pasta broken into thirds, and cook for 9 to 12 minutes depending on the brand.
- As the pasta cooks, stir the mixture several times to prevent it from sticking to the bottom of the pot.
- Taste for salt and pepper.
- When the pasta is cooked, even the least tender beans will be completely cooked and others will be pureed to form a quite thick minestra.
- Remove the pot from the heat and let mixture rest for 10 minutes before serving.
- Pour 1 teaspoon of olive oil over each serving.
- In calabria this would be eaten at either room temperature or prepared in advance and reheated.
Serves 12
Millecosedde – a thousand little things is a Regional recipe from Calabria.
