Chef Francesco Mattana shared his “live to 100” minestrone soup recipe that is inspired by the Blue Zone diet
A tasty one-pot dish could help you “live to 100”, according to a chef. This hearty soup, packed with vegetables and legumes, takes inspiration from the culinary traditions of the world’s Blue Zones – areas renowned for their remarkably long-lived residents.
Chef Francesco Mattana shared his “live to 100 minestrone” recipe on TikTok. In his video, he explained to his more than 500,000 followers: “This minestrone is comforting and delicious, full of vegetables and legumes.
“Sardinia is one of the rare Blue Zones in the world, which means people are more likely to live to 100 years old. This, of course, is because of many factors, but one in particular is the diet.”
Francesco reckons that the key to the Sardinian diet’s health advantages comes from using fresh, seasonal produce. He continued: “Our diet is full of seasonal vegetables and legumes, and this minestrone is something that you will find very often.
“Sometimes, to add as well some carbs, we also add fregula, a type of pasta similar to giant couscous. You can use either dry chickpeas and beans for this and soak/cook them in advance, or you can use them straight from the tin.”
The ingredients required to serve four are as follows:
- One onion (roughly chopped)
- Two celery sticks (chopped into large chunks – about 1cm cubes)
- One large carrot (chopped into large chunks – about 1cm cubes)
- Two garlic cloves (finely chopped)
- Three sun-dried tomatoes (finely chopped)
- 15g basil (finely chopped)
- 15g parsley (finely chopped)
- 250g tin of borlotti beans
- 250g tin of chickpeas
- One large potato
- One large fresh tomato (roughly chopped into large chunks)
- Olive oil
- Savoy cabbage (seven leaves roughly chopped)
- Pecorino and/or stale bread to grate at the end
- Salt and pepper
This soup doesn’t just pack a nutritional punch – it’s also incredibly simple to make using just a single pot. Francesco demonstrated the technique in his video guide.
He started by adding “a good drizzle of olive oil” to the pan, before incorporating the soffritto – his mixture of celery, onions, and carrots. He explained: “I don’t use any vegetable stock for this one so I’m going to build those flavours using sun-dried tomatoes, garlic, parsley, and basil.”
Once the soffritto had been sautéing for five minutes, he incorporated the sun-dried tomatoes, garlic, parsley, and basil. Sixty seconds later, he introduced the diced fresh tomatoes and cubed potato.
“Give it a stir, a pinch of salt and if you wish, some black pepper too,” he recommended. “Now cover all the vegetables with water. Bring it to a boil, cover it and cook it for half an hour.”
He then recommended incorporating any seasonal green leafy vegetables such as savoy cabbage, chard or cavolo nero. Francesco explained: “Now the final touches: cabbage chickpeas, and the beans. Make sure to cover everything again with the water.
“Give it a final stir, cover it and cook it for five more minutes. Now, that the minestrone is ready we’re going to taste it and adjust for seasoning.” He then served portions of the soup into bowls.
You can top this either with grated pecorino or parmesan cheese, or with grated stale bread. Sardinia became the first region globally to be designated as a Blue Zone.
Based on statistics, roughly 33.6 people per 100,000 inhabitants in Sardinia reach 100 years or beyond, positioning it as one of the locations with the greatest concentration of centenarians worldwide.
BlueZones.com observes that the traditional Sardinian diet includes “whole-grain bread, beans, garden vegetables, fruits, and, in some parts of the island, mastic oil”.
“Sardinians also traditionally eat pecorino cheese made from grass-fed sheep, whose cheese is high in omega-3 fatty acids,” it states. “Meat is largely reserved for Sundays and special occasions.”