Italian Bean, Barley and Vegetable Soup

This wintry soup is loosely based on the zuppa d’orzo e fagioli that we learned from chef Guido Severin at Trattoria Toni de Spin in Treviso, Italy. We use two different kinds of canned beans. Cannellini beans, pureed with the canning liquid and some water, lend a rich, creamy quality to the broth without weighing it down. Near the end of cooking, we add canned Roman beans (also called borlotti or cranberry beans), which are plumper and meatier than cannellinis, to complement the vegetables and barley. (If you can’t find Roman beans, pinto beans are a good substitute.) We prefer the more delicate texture of curly kale in the soup, but if you would like to use lacinato kale, substitute an equal amount but give it another four or five minutes of simmering to tenderize the leaves.