Traditionally Minestra's made with Pancetta,
or Guanciale, pork cheeks, diced.
That's your kind of background flavor,
and then the beans are white beans, or Cannellini beans.
Traditionally we always made it in our family
with beef stock or veal stock
and then you wilt in a ton of escarole.
Any dark greens you like really, but it's beans and greens.
This is a twist on that,
it's a very hearty dish that my family loves.
We start with beef shanks, osso buco is a veal shank.
You can go to the butcher and ask for beef shanks.
This the base of our flavor for this dish.
Now, in my family we start by making the stock itself.
We take marrow bones in the shank
of either beef or veal, of course.
You'll see a piece of marrow bone there.
You ask your butcher for four
or five pounds of marrow bones.
You roast them in the oven to develop their flavor.
With root vegetables, whole split garlic,
and then you throw them in a pot, cover them with water,
and let them sit on the stove over a low flame all day.
You make a ton of beef stock.
I even make my own stock in a box with beef stock.
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You can make a quicker version of this dish
by using a couple of quarts of store bought beef stock
or store bought beef broth,
and of course canned Cannellini beans.
In our family we soak the beans over night.
If you learn how to cook with dry beans,
they're a great source of protein and of course fiber.
They're cheap, they're cheerful, and they stretch a dollar.
So, we soak beans over night in water,
you can quick soak them with boiling water.
And we cook beans with lots of salt,
one halved onion, a few fresh bay leaves,
and some crushed garlic.
We browned the meat, right, I've taken out the meat.
Our beef shanks are going to then go back in and braise.
But I want those good drippings at the bottom,
and then we're going to add celery and onions.
One large or two medium onions.
I'm also adding fennel.
When we come back, we'll start wilting in our greens.
After this.
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So we're making a version of Minestra,
a beans and greens soup.
I'm running my knife through the last
of our braised beef shanks.
Over here we've got our fennel, celery,
onion, garlic, and a bundle of sage.
I garnished this soup with brown butter
and crispy sage breadcrumbs,
so I've got sage in this soup as well.
So at this point we would add our beef back
in to slow cook once the vegetables are just tender.
And the beef braises in your homemade or store bought stock.
This stock was made with parm rind.
Throw your cheese rind in.
Then you're gonna wilt in a huge amount of greens.
Escarole and kale, I use both.
That'll look like this pan right here. See.
The meat comes out, you shred it.
The greens go in, you wilt them.
Whenever you cook with dark greens or dairy, you use nutmeg.
And our cooked beans.
When we come back I'll show you how you serve this.
There's an art to it.
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So, with many soups like Minestrone or traditional Minestra,
or this beautiful beef shank Minestra,
or beans and greens soup.
Ribollita, another very famous one.
There's a certain way that we serve them
and go about eating them.
So, we finish our soup with a little acidity,
which is usually the juice of a lemon.
Then, what did I do with my ladle? Here we go.
Then, you take the pulled beef, your vegetables,
beans and greens,
put that into a shallow bowl.
So you have a lot of surface space.
In this case though, because I love
the flavor of sage with this.
I made some crispy sage leaves in brown butter.
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And some bread, toasted bread in the brown butter.
So, a little bread crumb.
Shaved parmigiano reggiano.
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And always, always, a little sprinkle of chopped,
raw white onion that's been rinsed.
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And always, always, always,
a good fat drizzle of fruity olive oil.
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