Minestra maritata, literally meaning ‘married soup’, is a dish that marries a variety of different cuts of meat—traditionally a mix of cured and fresh pork, but it can also include chicken and beef—with a variety of different leafy greens. Once upon a time, this dish practically defined Neapolitan cookery, and it remains a popular dish today, particular at holidays like Christmas and Easter. A rather different version of it, mistranslated as Wedding Soup, is a much loved Italian American classic.
There are probably as many recipes for minestra maritata as families that make it. For this one, I took inspiration from Jeanne Caròla Francesconi’s iconic cookbook La cucina napoletana,, but I’ve adapted her hyperlocal recipe for non-Italian kitchens with reasonably priced ingredients that should be fairly easy to find in a well-stocked in supermarket or Italian deli.
Though the recipe calls for a prodigious number of ingredients and takes a good three hours or more to make, the basic method for making minestra maritata is actually very straighforward. First you simmer the meats in a large pot of water until tender, which produces a rich broth. Then you add the greens to the broth and simmer them until tender. The cooked meats are then cut or torn up and returned to the pot. The eponymous marriage takes place as meats and leafy greens simmer together for a few minutes before serving.
Minestra maritata is a fixture of Christmas Day and Easter tables in Naples. At Christmas, it provides a simple if hearty repast after the elaborate mulitcourse seafood dinner that is typically served on Christmas Eve. Though it might be a soup, minestra maritata is hefty enough to serve as a one-course meal or piatto unico, rather than a mere primo. It’s a real treat whether it’s Christmas Day or anytime you’re yearing for something warming on a cold winter’s day.
Ingredients
Serves a crowd, at least 6-8
For the meats and broth
- 250g pork ribs (double the amount if not using the pork rind)
- 3 fresh Italian sausages
- 1 small salame (about 150g/6 oz)
- 250g (1/2 lb) pork rind (optional)
- A ham bone (optional)
- 1 large onion
- 1 or 2 carrots
- 1 or 2 stalks of celery
- salt
For the leafy vegetables:
- 1 head of escarole, trimmed of its root and roughly chopped
- 1 head of chicory aka curly endive, trimmed at the base and roughly chopped
- 1 bunch of broccoli rabe, trimmed of it stems and roughly chopped
- 150g (5 oz) lardo or salt pork, trimmed of its rind and cut into small cubes
- 2-3 cloves of garlic, peeled and slighly crushed
- 1-2 dried red peppers
To finish the dish
- 100g (3-1/2 oz) parmigiano-reggiano rinds, diced
- 100g (3-1/2 oz) caciocavallo, diced
- salt, to taste
- Freshly grated parmigiano-reggiano
Directions
Prepare the meats and broth
Place all the meats in a large stockpot, together with the aromatic vegetables and a small pinch of salt. Cover with water by about 5-6cm (2 to 2-1/2 inches).
Bring the pot to a simmer and skim off any scum that rises to the surface. Continue the simmer for 2-1/2 hours or perhaps a bit more, until the meats fork tender. (Or cook under high pressure for 45 minutes, then let it release naturally.)
Let the broth cool, then skim off the excess fat from the surface. Remove the meats to a platter and keep warm with a ladleful of their broth. (Even better, chill the broth with the meats overnight in the fridge and then remove most but not all of the fat which will have solidifed on top, then remove the meats.)
Prepare the vegetables
Bring a large pot to a boil and throw in all the chopped leafy vegetables and a small pinch of salt. As soon as the pot comes back to the boil, drain the vegetables in a colander, squeezing out as much liquid as you can with the back of a ladle. (NB: Unless you have an enormous pot, you will probably need to proceed in batches.)
Meanwhile, in a wide skillet, sauté the lardo over a gentle flame. When its fat has mostly rendered and it’s slightly browned around the edges, add the garlic and red pepper. Sauté for just and minute or two, or until the garlic has begun to brown around the edges. Discard the garlic and pepper.
Now add the parboiled leafy vegetables, turning them in the seasoned oil. Let the vegetables braise uncovered for a few minutes.
Finish the dish
Add the sautéed vegetables the stock pot with the broth, along with the diced cheeses. Simmer for about 15-20 minutes, or until fully tender.
While the vegetables are simmering, take the meats and cut or tear them into bite sized pieces. Add them to the pot with the vegetables and continue simmering for another 5-10 minutes.
Serve hot, with some grated parmigiano-reggiano on the side for those who want it.
Notes on minestra maritata
As mentioned at the top, even if minestra maritata isn’t exactly a simple dish, the method is a fairly straightforward. There aren’t too many ways to go seriously wrong.
I would be careful to salt the broth and the greens very lightly to start, as mentioned in the recipe. I find that when bringing together ingredients that have been seasoned separately somehow the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. You risk windy up with a dish that’s over-seasoned, even if the components were just right. Don’t ask me how or why. And in this case, this soup has already ingredients like the lardo, fresh sausage and salami that are already salty. Taste it during the final simmer and, if it needs it, you can always add more salt then.
The mix of meats and vegetables here, as well as the proportions, are really just guideposts. Feel free to personalize the soup to your personal taste. The following are a few pointer you can bear in mind.
Choosing the meats
Francesconi’s recipe calls for a ham bone, pork rind, pork ribs, fresh sausages, lardo and a salamino napoletano, a pork salami with about 25% fat content, which is lightly smoked then hung for at least 30 days. But she says any salami will do, even the super fatty cotechino if you want to lean into the richness of her minestra maritata.
Any Italian style sausage will work here as well, even spicy ones if you prefer. Or a mix of mild and spicy. The ribs could be country ribs if you want a bit more meat on the bone. You could also add a piece of shoulder or a pig’s foot as well.
The pork rind, which adds richness and lends a very rich, velvety mouth feel to the broth. But if that’s a bit too rich for you, feel free to leave it out and increase the amount of the ribs, shoulder or sausages.
Lardo is something of a false friend. If you don’t know, it isn’t actually lard, but rather pork fat back cured with salt, herbs and spices. It can be served, thinly sliced, as a kind of salumi, but it’s also used in cooking as in this recipe. Lardo has become quite trendy in recent years, making it rather expensive. But it is also very delicious. When I first blogged on this soup back 2014, I mentioned it more for information than anything else, but happily it’s much easier to source now. So do seek it out if you can. That said, a hunk of salt pork, parboiled to remove its excess salt, makes an acceptable and more affordable substitute.
Ham bones can be hard to come by. In fact, you want prosciutto bone, which is even trickier to source. If you can’t find one, you can just leave it out. Other types of cured pork like a ham hock can substitute for the lardo as well, although I would stay away from strongly smoked ones, which would give the soup an uncharacteristic taste.
While Francesconi’s recipe is all pork, other versions of minestra maritata call for chicken and beef, which of course result in a lighter and more delicate broth than does pork. If you can find it, look for a stewing hen, which gives better flavor, and beef shank or a piece of chuck.
Neapolitan Youtuber Mimmo Corcione’s recipe for minestra maritata, which he got from his zia Ana, includes all three, but he simmers the pork cuts separately and add them towards the end, which prevents the pork overwhelming the beef and chicken and, of course, produces a less fatty broth.
Choosing the vegetables
Francesconi’s recipe includes typically Neapolitan greens like cicoria (chicory), broccoli di foglia (‘leaf broccoli’), also known locally as friarielli, similar to our broccoli rabe but rather leafier, torzella, a very old leafy brassica orginally called cavolo greco or Greek cabbage, or scarolella, a local ‘wild’ escarole. She also calls for broccoletti, which in Rome at least is the usual word for cime di rapa or broccoli rabe. For this dish, I’ve used broccoli rabe and our rather milder escarole and chicory.
Francesconi also calls for cavolo cappuccio, which is our green cabbage. It’s a curious choice as verza or Savoy cabbage is much commoner in Italian cookery, and also figures in some recipes. Personally, although I do like cabbage, I find its strong taste unbalances the dish, so I usually leave it out.
And you can try out other greens that strike your fancy, as well. Cavolo nero, or Tuscan kale, is a popular choice. Some recipes call for Swiss chard. And though scarcely Italian, I’ve read that collard greens are very nice addition to minestra maritata. The important thing is a to have a good variety of greens. Some recipes call for six different ones!
In all recipes I’m familiar with have you parboil the vegetables. This reduces them down to a manageable proportions, and it also mellows their bitterness. In many recipes, including Francesconi’s, you add them directly to the pot without prior sautéing but I like the extra layer of flavor that a brief sauté in rendered lardo provides.
The cheeses
As for the cheeses, Francesconi suggests a mixture of half Parmesan and half caciocavallo, a very typical Neapolitan cheese that you can sometimes find in better stocked Italian delis or online. If you can’t find caciocavallo, you could use another sharpish semi-hard cheese like a mild provolone. Or just use parmigiano-reggiano.
Other Variations
If you like, you can serve your minestra maritata over slices or chunks of day old bread.
Francesconi suggests serving the meats in a separate bowl, so each diner can add as much or as little meat as they would like. I prefer to mix things up—and I would are say, that’s the more usual practice. In some recipes, the meats are kept whole or in large pieces rather than torn in to bite sized chunks.
Making minestra maritata ahead
You can prepare this rather lengthy recipe in stages. In fact, as mentioned, it’s best to make the broth the day before and store the cooled broth in the fridge. This not only makes degreasing a breeze, it also allows the flavors to develop. You can also parboil and sauté the vegetables at any time, then add them to the broth for the final simmer whenever you’re ready to eat. And you can make the whole dish ahead and gently reheat it when you’re ready to serve.
Origins of minestra maritata
Minestra maritata goes back a long way, with written references to it going back at least to the sixteen century poet Giovanni Battista Del Tufo in his Ritratto di Napoli (Portrait of Naples). Recipes for it appear in the works of eighteenth century gastonome Vincenzo Corrado and nineteen century Ippolito Cavalcanti.
In older recipes minestra maritata is made from various leftover scraps of cured and fresh meats, including the pig’s snout, ear and foot, and a mixture of whatever leafy greens that could be bought in the market or scavenged from the countryside.
Francesconi surmises that minestra maritata may, in fact, be a local variant of the Spanish olla podrida. (Naples and the rest of southern Italy was under Spanish rule for centuries.) That said, she notes that ancient cookbook author Apicius has a remarkably similar recipe for a soup of peas and varied meats. Noting that similar soups can be found around the Mediterranean basin and north into France, Belgium and parts of Germany, she speculates that they all might share a common ancient Roman origin.
Minestra maritata is sometimes called pignato grasso, or ‘fat pot’, a reference to the rich, fatty meats that go into it. Francesconi points out that, before pasta came to prominence, this was this dish that virtually defined Neapolitan cookery. As I’ve mentioned before, Neapolitans were famous for their love of leafy vegetables, so much so that they were knicnamed mangiafoglie, or ‘leaf eaters.
Minestra maritata (The Original Italian “Wedding Soup”)
Ingredients
For the meats and broth
- 250 g pork ribs double the amount if not using the pork rind
- 3 fresh Italian sausages
- 1 small salame about 150g/6 oz
- 250 g 1/2 lb pork rind (optional)
- A ham bone optional
- 1 large onion
- 1 or 2 carrots
- 1 or 2 stalks of celery
- salt
For the leafy vegetables:
- 1 head of escarole trimmed of its root and roughly chopped
- 1 head of chicory aka curly endive trimmed at the base and roughly chopped
- 1 bunch of broccoli rabe trimmed of it stems and roughly chopped
- 150 g 5 oz lardo or salt pork, trimmed of its rind and cut into small cubes
- 2-3 cloves of garlic peeled and slighly crushed
- 1-2 dried red peppers
To finish the dish
- 100 g 3-1/2 oz parmigiano-reggiano rinds, cut into small cubes
- 100 g 3-1/2 oz caciocavallo, cut into small cubes
- salt to taste
- Freshly grated parmigiano-reggiano
Instructions
Prepare the meats and broth
- Place all the meats in a large stockpot, together with the aromatic vegetables and a small pinch of salt. Cover with water by about 5-6cm (2 to 2-1/2 inches).
- Bring the pot to a simmer and skim off any scum that rises to the surface. Continue the simmer for 2-1/2 hours or perhaps a bit more, until the meats fork tender. (Or cook under high pressure for 45 minutes, then let it release naturally.)
- Let the broth cool, then skim off the excess fat from the surface. Remove the meats to a platter and keep warm with a ladleful of their broth. (Even better, chill the broth with the meats overnight in the fridge and then remove most but not all of the fat which will have solidifed on top, then remove the meats.)
Prepare the vegetables
- Bring a large pot to a boil and throw in all the chopped leafy vegetables and a small pinch of salt. As soon as the pot comes back to the boil, drain the vegetables in a colander, squeezing out as much liquid as you can with the back of a ladle. (NB: Unless you have an enormous pot, you will probably need to proceed in batches.)
- Meanwhile, in a wide skillet, sauté the lardo over a gentle flame. When its fat has mostly rendered and it’s slightly browned around the edges, add the garlic and red pepper. Sauté for just and minute or two, or until the garlic has begun to brown around the edges. Discard the garlic and pepper.
- Now add the parboiled leafy vegetables, turning them in the seasoned oil. Let the vegetables braise uncovered for a few minutes.
Finish the dish
- Add the sautéed vegetables the stock pot with the broth, along with the diced cheeses. Simmer for about 15-20 minutes, or until fully tender.
- While the vegetables are simmering, take the meats and cut or tear them into bite sized pieces. Add them to the pot with the vegetables and continue simmering for another 5-10 minutes.
- Serve hot, with some grated parmigiano-reggiano on the side for those who want it.
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This definitely is a labor of love, but the way you describe the broth, the greens, and that final “marriage” makes it totally worth the time. I’m really tempted to try this on a cold weekend, it sounds like pure comfort.
This is a rich and beautiful minestra — and I think I can source all the ingredients. The place I told you about that has caciocavallo, also has lardo. After all our guests leave, I think I might settle down and give this a try. Both Mark and I think it sounds incredible.
I’m glad you simplified the recipe and left out the pig’s trotters, etc! Although I have myself used pig’s trotters in several French dishes and once used a pig’s head in making Mexican Pozole. Gives a nice gelatinous texture to the base.
I’m actually a fan of trotters but skipped them for this recipe. It was rich enough without!
Interesting – I didn’t realize that the Italian Wedding Soup that we know and love is different than the traditional version. Italian American cuisine belongs in a whole separate category – there are so many delicious dishes that fall into that genre. This traditional version sounds absolutely fantastic, and it looks perfect for a cold winter day. I’m going to hang on to this recipe for after the holidays – I’m thinking mid-January would be a good time! Happy Holidays to you and your family, Frank!
Definitely sticks to the ribs, David. At least this version. The beauty of this dish is it can be light if you use, say, only chicken and greens, and also very hearty. Either way, it’s perfect for a winter’s day. Thanks for stopping by!
sounds like a delicious labour of love. Happy festives Frank.
sherry
Same to you, Sherry!
I’ve never had minestra maritata but I can just imagine how rich and delicious it must be.
It’s a winner, Karen.
This was a Saturday meal because it took all afternoon when my mother made it. Pigs feet, pig skin rolled up (cutica) pepperoni, spare ribs, dandelion and escarole greens. She also put white beans. Some people would make the polenta and crisp it up in a frying pan. Wow, memories. Thanks!
You’re welcome! Glad this recipe brought back those lovely memories.
That looks delicious – I like the idea of adding a pig’s trotter, that would make your lips stick together!
Hehe! As it it weren’t hearty enough already. 😉
What an absolutely gorgeous soup! It actually sounds like a fridge clean out recipe! The combination of flavours sound amazing. Thank you for sharing such a wonderful recipe.
Indeed it is, Eva. Hope you give it a try some time.
This may be simple to make but it has rather interesting ingredients both on the meat and the vegetable side . . . well, there is only one way to find out 🙂 ! Loved Jeni’s comments also . . . thanks for another lesson . . .
Indeed! It’s worth a try if you have the patience. Not at all hard, just takes a few hours.
My Grandma was Abruzzese and made a special dish on holidays…ingredients were fried or braised veal, beaten eggs and cheese. She fried or braised the veal, then beat the eggs with salt and pepper, added the cheese and mixed and cooked all together. Are you familiar with these ingredients as a dish? I would love to see the recipe if you have it.
Sounds like “agnello cacio e uova”, a well known Abruzzese dish. I’ve featured a few “cacio e uova” dishes here on the website, mostly vegetables dishes and a pasta dish as well as the famous Abruzzese dish pallotte cacio e uova. The closest I’ve come is agnello brodettato, where you finish the dish with egg and lemon rather than egg and cheese. I may post the recipe in the spring.
I wish I met you earlier! Your recipes are a trip down memory lane! So delicious and great for the soul too. Grazie infinite da una pugliese. Greetings from Spain
Thanks so much, Claudia. I am trying to keep these old recipes alive for English speaking (and reading) audiences. So glad you like this one.
My mom made this soup using the ends of ham salami procutto spare ribs sausage and whatever pork she had the greens were dandelions escarole cabbage fennel fronds and the bulb sliced thin she made the meat into a soup boiled all the greens added this to the soup added pepperoni and when served added parmiagiano cheese I made it for the first time and though my Moms was the best mine came pretty close my nephew asked me to make it and your recipe is really close to what I remember my Moms Grazie I thank you
Your mom’s version sounds really delicious, Jeni!
Glad I stopped by to see this soup post Frank. You know, I don’t think I’ve ever made a real minestra maritata, although I do make chicken soup with tiny meatballs and greens tossed in. As you know, I adore soup and this one looks perfect for these dreary days we’ve been having in our area. You mention the wild escarole. There are other wild greens that they have over in Italy that I wish we could find here. One of my favorites is orapi, a type of wild spinach. It may be that such greens (or similar ones) do exist, but alas, I am not a forager. At least not yet.
Orapi, that’s a new one to me. Two that I’d really like to try are cardilli (a.k.a. cicorione, puntarelle) and boraggine.
You know, I remember seeing foragers close by the house when we were living just outside Rome. I really liked the idea of learning how to recognize wild edible greens but never did. I bet you could find some really fine greens here if you knew what to look for.
Frank, there are entire websites that document these greens in wonderful detail. Peppe Sidoti (cibidicasa.com) pointed them out to me. His mother used to pick such greens every day for her lunch. 🙂 http://www.dipbot.unict.it/alimurgiche/piantespontanee.aspx
http://www.baiazzurravulcano.com/ita/LE_PIANTE_ALIMURGICHE_EOLIANE.pdf
I always love coming across many (somewhat) different versions of this classic! Looks great
Thanks, Alessandra! It’s extra hefty but very tasty.
Frank, did Angelina ever make this with polenta instead of pasta? Or is that something they did only in Avellino?
Funnily enough, Angelina didn’t make minestra maritata, either the Italian or the Italian-American versions. Not sure why not…
This is somewhat close to my grandmother’s (all that pork but don’t remember the salami). And serving it separately. I am loving the history – and of course this recipe is so different than what I make (all those tiresome little meatballs). Because Grandma never wrote down a recipe. She cooked what she learned from her mother and everything is guesswork now. This is a Sunday Soup for the ages and needs to find a home (my home!) in Minnesota!
That’s wonderful, Claudia! Let us know how you like it.
Thank you for an information post about this soup. I’m going to be making the “wedding soup” with a class and now you have made my job of researching the recipe’s history that much easier! I’m going to experiment around with this traditional recipe over the Italian-American one.
You’re welcome! I actually like both the original and the Italian-American version, but the original is really something special. Very bold flavors and very hearty.
I had never heard of wedding soup before I started reading blogs and up to this day wondered with my husband where the recipe originated and why they called it that, as it is never really served in Italy, at least not in the north to my knowledge. Thank you for giving us a long-awaited answer!
You’re welcome!
Leave it to you – the food historian – to dig deeply into the background of this dish. It’s a lot different from what we commonly think of as ” wedding soup.” And yes, Frank, you can come to the next dinner. There’s an open invitation whenever you’re anywhere near Princeton.
Great, I’ll see you tonight! ;=)
‘A menesta co’ ‘a pizz’ e’ pulenta is one of the most prized winter dishes in Avellino. Where Apice is a mere stone’s throw from Avellino, I was hoping at some point you’d post a recipe for this! Your recipe is very similar to one that a cousin of mine once shared with me. So I attest to its authenticity. Bravo! Regarding the pizza di polenta, I’m not sure what this consisted of, but I believe it was slices of polenta, fried in a cast iron pan which had been periodically treated with lard.
I’ll have to try that polenta some time. Angelina also like to make polenta from time to time. My grandfather (who was from a little town close to Bari in Puglia) developed a taste for polenta when he was up North as a soldier during the war. (We’re talking about WWI…) She made a very soft porridge-like polenta, but I really like the idea of the fried version.
the soup looks beautiful in the spendid Deruta dishes! Can you believe I have never tasted it? There’s so much regional food in Italy once can spend a lifetime trying it all. Thank you for sharing this special – and for me unusual – recipe in such a detail
So true. It would take a lifetime, and then some, to learn all there is to learn, and try all there is to try. Thanks for stopping by Letizia!
Apprezzo dell’inverno la possibilità di mangiare calde e corroboranti minestre, grazie per aver condiviso con noi questa prelibatezza Frank, buona settimana..
Grazie a te, cara!