Minestrone Stew (by G)

I was reading a collection of food writing during the week and came across an article extolling the glory of dried beans, I was so inspired went out and bought some dried fagiolis to make into a minestrone soup.

The difficulty, I found, was that the beans were extraordinarily reluctant to become hydrated again. I soaked them for 24+ hours, tipped off the icky water then simmered them for hours in fresh water with some carrot, onion, fennel, garlic, parsley and celery. They were not in the least bit tender by bedtime so I stuck them in the fridge overnight to continue the process the next day. About 2 hours before dinner I brought them up to the simmer again and let them go... by dinner time they still had quite a bit of bite to them - but they were edible so I went with that. To the beans I added some leftover lamb shank braising liquid from the other day, a couple of super-salty smoked pork ribs that we couldn't get through on Thursday and some pasta. I also had 1/3 of a bag of coleslaw so I dropped that in as well.

The result was not so much the soup I was hoping for, more a thick stew. I could have added some water but I was pretty happy with the consistency so I just shaved some parmesan on the top and ate it.  Troublesome but Delicious.