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Maneštra — Istrian soup with sweet corn, beans and smoked pork belly
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Source: https://recipheon.com/en/recipes/soups/manestra-istrian-soup-with-sweet-corn-beans-and-smoked-pork-belly
About this recipe
Maneštra is a hearty Istrian soup of sweet corn, beans, potatoes and vegetables with a distinctive smoky pork flavor. Its character comes from pešt: finely chopped pork belly with garlic and parsley that flavors the broth. This practical home version uses cooked canned beans, frozen sweet corn and fully cooked, ready-to-eat smoked pork belly, with no overnight soaking or lengthy cooking of dried beans. Mashing some of the potatoes and beans thickens the soup without flour or cream while leaving whole beans and pieces of vegetables. Allow about 1 hour and 25 minutes for six generous servings.
Ingredients
Bean and sweet corn soup
600 g cooked canned white cannellini beans, weighed after draining and rinsing, without the canning liquid
300 g frozen sweet corn kernels without additives, weighed before thawing
400 g all-purpose potatoes, weighed after peeling
200 g fully cooked, ready-to-eat smoked pork belly, without skin or bones
150 g onion, weighed after peeling
150 g carrot, weighed after peeling
200 g ripe tomatoes, weighed after removing the stalks, including all their juice
1200 ml water
10 g olive oil
Pešt and final seasoning
12 g garlic, weighed after peeling
10 g fresh parsley
0.5 g ground black pepper
salt for final seasoning, up to 4 g, depending on how salty the pork belly and beans are
Steps
Drain the beans, rinse them in a sieve and drain again; measure out 600 g of prepared beans. Cut the potatoes into roughly 2 cm cubes and the carrot into roughly 1 cm cubes, and finely chop the onion. Chop the tomatoes into small pieces, keeping all their juice. Weigh out 50 g of the pork belly for the pešt, then cut the remaining 150 g into roughly 1 cm cubes. Use fully cooked, ready-to-eat pork belly, not raw smoked pork belly.
Wash and dry the parsley. First finely chop the reserved 50 g of pork belly, peeled garlic and all the parsley separately, then chop them together until very fine and slightly sticky, almost a paste. This is the pešt, which you will add to the pot while frying the vegetables.
AI-generated Heat the olive oil over medium heat in a heavy-bottomed 4–5 liter pot. Add the 150 g of diced pork belly and fry for 3–4 minutes, stirring, until lightly browned. Add the onion and carrot and fry for 6–8 minutes, until the onion softens. Add all the pešt and stir for about another minute without letting the garlic burn. Leave all the rendered fat in the pot.
Add the potatoes and pour in all the measured water. Scrape the browned bits from the bottom with a wooden spoon so they dissolve into the broth. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat. Simmer with the lid ajar for about 15 minutes from boiling, until the potatoes are almost tender. The broth should bubble gently, without boiling vigorously.
Add the drained beans, still-frozen sweet corn and tomatoes with all their juice to the pot. Wait until the soup returns to a gentle simmer, and only then start timing 10–15 minutes. Cook with the lid ajar, stirring gently from time to time, until the sweet corn is cooked and the potatoes are completely tender. Do not boil vigorously, so as many beans as possible stay whole.
Transfer two ladlefuls of soup to a bowl, taking mostly beans and potatoes with a little broth. Mash them with a fork and return everything to the pot. Stir gently and simmer over low heat for about another 5 minutes. The soup should be noticeably thick but still fluid, with visible sweet corn kernels, beans and pieces of pork belly and vegetables.
Add the pepper, stir and taste the soup. Only now add some of the allotted salt if needed; salty pork belly and beans may mean you need very little salt or no additional salt at all. Divide the soup, vegetables, beans, sweet corn and pork belly between six deep bowls. Serve hot.
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