by Carla Lalli, from Food is a Feeling
8 servings
8 ounces dried beans, such as baby lima, gigante, Corona, or cranberry beans
Kosher salt
For the Soffritto
6 garlic cloves, peeled
1 large yellow onion, halved
1 fennel bulb, stems trimmed, roughly chopped
4 carrots, peeled and roughly chopped
½ cup extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for serving
Kosher salt; freshly ground pepper
6 anchovy fillets
2 teaspoons dried oregano
2 teaspoons fennel seeds
½ teaspoon cumin seeds
½ teaspoon ground turmeric
2 teaspoons mild chile flakes, such as Aleppo, plus more for serving
¼ cup tomato paste (double concentrate)
For the Soup
Kosher salt; freshly ground pepper
3 bay leaves, fresh or dried
2 dried shiitakes or porcini
1 bunch of kale, leaves torn into 3-inch pieces
1 or 2 Parmigiano rinds (optional)
8 ounces small ridged pasta, such as orecchiette or cavatelli
Parmigiano and toasted or fried crusty bread, for serving
To soak your beans before cooking, put them in a bowl with 1 tablespoon salt and 6 cups water and leave them at room temperature for up to 24 hours. This step is not required, but it shortens the cooking time for the beans and preseasons them.
Make the soffritto:
In a food processor, pulse the garlic, onion, and fennel until finely chopped. Transfer to a large bowl. Pulse the carrots in the processor until finely chopped and add to bowl with onion mixture. If you don’t have a food processor, chop the vegetables by hand, as finely as patience will allow.
Heat a 6-quart Dutch oven or other large heavy pot with a lid over medium. Add the olive oil. When the oil is hot, add the chopped vegetables. Season generously with salt and pepper, stir to combine, and cook until the vegetables are bright and start to release their liquid, about 3 minutes.
Cover the pot and reduce the heat to medium-low. Cook the soffritto, checking and stirring every 5 to 10 minutes, until the vegetables have released a lot of liquid and become very soft, without taking on any color, 20 to 25 minutes.
Continue to cook, covered, stirring more frequently, until the soffritto has lost at least half its original volume and is just starting to brown, about 15 minutes more.
Uncover and cook until the soffritto is orangey-brown in color and starting to fry in the oil, which indicates the vegetables have given up all of their liquid. (The math is right: Cooking the soffritto takes about 40 minutes, which is why this soup tastes so good.)
Scoop out half of the soffritto and transfer it to a storage container. Let cool, then freeze for the next batch of soup or beans; setting it aside before you add the anchovies and other seasonings means you can adjust it to complement whatever dish you’re making in the future.
Add the anchovies, oregano, fennel seeds, cumin seeds, turmeric, and chile flakes to the remaining soffritto in the pot. Cook, stirring, until the anchovies have disintegrated, about 2 minutes. Add the tomato paste, stir to coat, and cook until the paste has darkened by a couple of shades, about 3 minutes more.
Finish the soup:
Add the beans, along with their soaking liquid. (If using unsoaked beans, add 2 quarts water and 1 tablespoon salt.) Drop in the bay leaves and shiitakes, then add water to cover the beans by 2 to 3 inches. (If you have homemade chicken or vegetable stock on hand, you can use it instead of water, but it’s not necessary, flavor wise.)
Bring the mixture to a boil over medium-high and season with salt and pepper. Reduce the heat to a gentle simmer, partially cover the pot, and cook, stirring every 20 to 30 minutes or so, until the beans are tender but not completely cooked through, 1 to 2 hours, depending on your beans (add water as needed to keep the beans submerged by 2 inches).
Stir in the kale and Parm rinds (if using), partially cover, and cook soup with lid askew, stirring occasionally, until the beans are completely soft and kale is silky, 30 to 45 minutes more. Taste periodically and season as needed. If the beans are being stubborn and the kale ends up cooking longer, it’s all good.
Transfer about 3 cups soup mixture (without rinds) to a tall container and blend with an immersion blender until smooth (or do this in a stand blender). Stir the puree into the soup.
Cook the pasta in a pot of well-salted boiling water for 2 to 3 minutes less than the time indicated on the package. Drain the pasta, add it to the soup, and cook until the pasta is al dente, about 2 minutes. Taste and adjust seasoning.
Serve the soup drizzled with olive oil, with Parmigiano for grating over, bread for dunking, and more Aleppo.
Excerpted from FOOD IS A FEELING: Recipes & Stories, With Love by Carla Lalli. Copyright © 2026 by Carla Lalli. Photographs copyright © 2026 by Lucia Bell-Epstein. Published in the United States by Clarkson Potter/Publishers, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House LLC.
Order the cookbook from Now Serving Bookstore here.
