This is a soup my family called "Minest", which is short for "minestrone" or "big soup". It was usually made on Easter and on Christmas day (and maybe once or twice in between). Be warned - it is a lot of work, which is why it is not made that often, but it is worth it.
Remember, this is an old family recipe, so the measurements are rough - it really depends on the amount of soup you want to make and the size of your pot, and whether you like more greens or meat. Feel free to increase the amount of meat or greens. But let's assume you have a large soup pot, at least 16 quarts.
You need the following ingredients:
3 bunches of endives (chicory) - NOT Belgian endives
2 heads of cabbage
2 large onions
1 lb of mild Italian sausage
1 lb of hot Italian sausage
1 large stick of pepperoni
1 "chunk" of ham, about 3 or 4 lbs.
(one of the small pre-cooked smoked hams or canned hams
from the grocery store is fine - but not with honey)
salt
black pepper
bay leaves (optional)
Italian bread (for dipping)
You need two pots. One has to be fairly large, at least 16 quarts, although you can probably get away with 12 quarts.
First, rinse the endives. Cut off the about 1 inch of the bottoms and discard. Break them apart and put them in one pot (the smaller one if you only have one large pot) and fill with enough water to cover them, or at least almost since they will shrink. Put that one the stove on med/high heat so it comes to a boil. Let this cook for 45 min. to an hour.
While the endives are cooking, fill your big pot half way with water (use your judgement here - this water will end up being the "soup" - if your pot is very large and you don't want that much soup, only fill it to 1/3. Use too much water and not enough meat and your soup will taste like, well, water).
Chop the two onions and put them into the big pot. Peel the skin off the pepperoni stick and cut it in three even pieces and put them into the big pot. Cut the sausages into three evenly sized pieces and put them into the big pot. Cut the skin off the ham (if any) and cut it in half and put into the big pot. Put two bay leaves in, along with some salt and pepper (how much? don't know! try one tablespoon of salt and 2 tsp. of black pepper - you can add more later). Put this pot on the stove on high heat and let it come to a boil and cook for 1 hour.
While these two pots are cooking, break apart the cabbages. The easiest way is to quarter them, cut out the hearts, and then pull apart the leaves. Don't shred them - you want leaves.
When the endives have cooked for about 45 min, drain them and set them aside. Discard the water from the endives.
After the meat has cooked for about an hour, fish out all of the meat - but don't drain it! The water used to cook the meat is the "soup", so you must fish out the meat and put it into a bowl or something.
After you get out the meat, put the cabbage and endives into the meat water and bring it to a boil again.
While the cabbage and endives are cooking in the meat water, slice up the sausages and pepperoni. Slice the sausages into pieces about 1/2" thick and the pepperoni into pieces about 1/4" thick. Cut up the ham into approx. 1" cubes.
When the cabbage feels like it is getting soft (probably after about 20 or 30 minutes), add the chopped meat back into the soup pot and let it cook for another 30 minutes or so. Add more salt and pepper to taste.
Then your soup is finally done! When serving, make sure you get greens and meat in each bowl and serve with Italian bread, which is for dipping into the soup bowl.
Dipping bread into the soup is a must!
You can freeze the extra soup to keep it for another day. Some people think it tastes even better after it has been warmed up after being frozen.
Family clusters of our Italians (Pizzeria, construction, trucking, pool hall, restaurants, bakery and beauty shops), the Irish (10 redheaded kids, corner bar, and the City cops), Jewish (The butcher shop, Pawn shops and clothing store), German (machine shop, carpenters, quiet sturdy, and respectable), Polish (bakery, home alterations), Chinese (restaurants, hand laundry) Greek (coffee shop, bakery, grocery), and the Social Clubs, where the WISEGUYS hung out... sigh. .
All those folks and all that food.. I can hear it, see it, and smell it all again.. Thanks so much.. :)