Simple ingredients. Italian magic. That’s Nonna’s soup philosophy. A tin of Napolina tomatoes here, a tin of pulses there, whatever pasta is left in the packet. It is the one dish where nothing goes to waste, and it is almost always better the next day.
Italian soup is not one recipe so much as a method. Once you understand how Nonna builds hers, from tomatoes and pulses, you can make a different soup every week without ever really following a recipe. Nonna’s favourite is Tuscan bean soup.
The Nonna Formula: Tomatoes, Pulses, and Time
Most of Nonna’s soups come down to the same simple ingredients: a soffritto, a tin of chopped tomatoes, plum tomatoes, or passata, and a tin of pulses, whether that is chickpeas, lentils, or butter beans.
Nonna’s Tips for the Perfect Italian Soup
Nonna’s Tip 1: Start with a Soffritto, Always
Every good Italian soup begins the same way: onion, carrot, and celery softened slowly in Napolina olive oil. Rushing this step is the easiest way to end up with a thin, flat-tasting soup.
Nonna’s Tip 2: Pick Your Tomato Personality
Napolina’s Italian chopped tomatoes or plum tomatoes give a soup texture and body, while a spoonful of passata smooths things out when you want something closer to a classic tomato soup. Nonna often uses a mix of both in the same pot.
Nonna’s Tip 3: Let Pulses Do the Heavy Lifting
Chickpeas and butter beans make a soup substantial enough to be a whole meal, while lentils are Nonna’s choice when she wants something on the table faster, since they need no soaking at all.
Nonna’s Tip 4: Give It More Time Than You Think It Needs
Nonna’s rule? If the kitchen smells incredible, it’s probably not ready yet. Nonna lets hers simmer gently for at least thirty minutes once everything is in the pot, so the flavours have time to properly come together.
Nonna’s Tip 5: Add Small Pasta Right at the End
If pasta is going in, it goes in during the last ten minutes or so, never at the start. Small shapes work best here, the way they do in a classic pasta e fagioli, so they cook through without turning to mush. Nonna’s go-to pasta shapes for soup are Casarecce, Macaroni or Conchiglie, and Orzo thickens up a soup well.
Nonna’s Tip 6: Finish with Olive Oil, Not Cream
A final drizzle of Napolina Olive Oil brings an extra layer of Italian flavour. Nonna wouldn’t serve soup without it.
H2: Soups Worth Trying
A few of Nonna’s own soups, all built on the same tomato-and-pulses formula:
- Hearty Pasta e Fagioli, a classic pasta and bean soup
- Tuscan-Style Pasta and Bean Soup
- Tomato and Basil Soup, for a smoother, passata-style base
- Spinach and Tomato Pasta Soup
Enjoying Nonna’s Tips? Discover Nonna’s guide to pulses, or find out how Nonna uses passata today.
