Corsican Vegetable Soup: Minestra

Corsica is an island located some 100+ miles southeast of the French coast (at its nearest point), about 60 miles west of the northwestern Italian coast, called "Liguria," and about 7 or so miles north of the Italian island of Sardinia. It was under the control of Genoa for a few hundred years (this was well before Italy was united as a modern nation) and there was a brief period of independence, followed by a takeover by France in the 1760s. The ethnic composition of the island was varied in those times, as many peoples traipsed across the island at one time or another, but "likely" the population was more tilted to Italian than any other one group, and Italian and a Corsican dialect/language (closely related to Italian) prevailed as the languages on the island until French was strongly pushed after the takeover by France, whereupon French became the dominant language during the mid 1800s, as it remains to this day. Napoleon Bonaparte was born to Italian parents in Ajaccio, Corsica in 1769, and his birth name, "Napoleone di Buonaparte," reflects his Italian heritage. Since France took control of Cosica in the 1760s, there has only been relatively weak interest by some Italians on the mainland, as well as by some highly vocal Italo-Corsicans, to reestablish Italian control over Corsica. This intensified during the fascist era of, "don't you want to go back to the Roman Empire; nothing like the past," but except for a brief period of less than one year of Italian military occupation, reinforced by some German military units, Corsica's control by France has remained intact, although with much debate about Corsican autonomy within France.      
This recipe is a version of Italian vegetable soup, called minestrone, but the Corsican version is made with smoked pork, like ham hocks, smoked pork shoulder or even bacon, and this imparts a smoky taste to the soup. Don't be intimidated by the rather lengthy list of ingredients, because many are vegetables, and I've never found any one vegetable added to the soup that makes it "Corsican." Both the Corsicans for minestra and the Italians for minestrone use the vegetables that are freshly available by season, so there really isn't a set recipe. Corsicans sometimes use Swiss chard, but cabbage is also common, and leek is another common ingredient, but if you don't use leeks much, you can leave them out, Napoleon won't get you, he's been dead for quite some time.   

Ingredients (8 to 12 servings, depending upon serving size):

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
6 cloves garlic, chopped
2 cups chopped onion
2 cups canned cannellini beans or about 2/3 cup dried cannellini beans soaked in water overnight
2 carrots, peeled and chopped
2 medium potatoes, peeled and diced
2 stalks celery, sliced into about 1/2 inch pieces
1/2 medium head of cabbage, cut into fairly large pieces, about 2 inch pieces (no thick stems)
2 small to medium smoked ham hocks
8 cups chicken broth (you may want to even add more later)
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 baseball size tomato, chopped
1 cup green beans cut in 1 inch pieces
1 zucchini (washed and skin on), chopped
1 1/2 cups chopped smoked pork shoulder (I chop the pork into about 1/2 inch pieces)
1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves
1 teaspoon freshly chopped rosemary
2/3 cup macaroni
1/2 teaspoon salt (optional, remember, the broth and smoked pork likely have salt)
1 teaspoon black pepper
extra virgin olive oil for serving 

In a pot over medium heat, add the oil and let it heat up briefly, then add the onion and garlic, saute for a couple of minutes. If using dried beans, add them now along with the carrots, potatoes, celery, cabbage, ham hocks, chicken broth and oregano. (NOTE: I check the ham hocks to make sure no pieces of bone are loose and therefore likely to fall off into the soup. I've actually wrapped ham hocks in cheesecloth to prevent bits of bone from getting into the soup also.) Bring the soup to a simmer and keep the heat at that level to maintain a gentle simmer for about 75 minutes. (Note: if you use dried beans, they naturally will soak up lots of liquid, so you'll likely need to add more broth, or just water.) Now add the zucchini and tomato and simmer for another 10 minutes. Add the chopped smoked pork shoulder, thyme, rosemary, macaroni, black pepper, salt (if using), and if using canned beans, add them now (check the liquid level too and add more, if needed; to me, broth is better than plain water). Simmer the soup for about another 20 minutes, or until the macaroni is just tender. Take the soup from the heat, take the ham hocks from the soup, cut off the skin and remove the meat from the bones, and return the meat to the soup. Drizzle a little extra virgin olive oil on top of each serving.

WORD HISTORY:
Vend (Vendor)-This contracted compound is closely related to "venal," a Latin-derived word borrowed by English through Latin-based French. The very abbreviated ending is related to "donate," another Latin-derived word borrowed by English through French. "Vend" goes back to Indo European "wes," which had the meaning, "to buy, to sell." This gave Latin the noun "venum," meaning, "something for sale." The ending goes back to Indo European "do" (long 'o'), which meant, "to give;" thus also, "to present, to offer." This gave Latin "dare," meaning, "to give." Together Latin had "venumdare," meaning, "to give for sale, to offer for sale." This produced the Latin verb "vendare," meaning, "to sell," but with a secondary meaning, "to offer for a bribe." Old French had "vendre" ("to sell") from the Latin, and likely English borrowed "vend" from French, but with heavy reinforcement by Latin, although it could be the other way around, circa 1600. French also had the noun "vendeor," which was "vendor" ("seller") in the waning days of the French spoken in England (Anglo-French), and this was also borrowed circa 1600. French had the word from the Latin noun "venditor," "seller," but also, "one who sells for corrupt purpose."