Jess Shadbolt pairs winter bean soup with roast persimmon and radicchio

Jess Shadbolt’s winter recipe feature for the Guardian presents pasta e fagioli alongside a roast persimmon and radicchio salad. The chef, who co-owns King and Dean’s in New York, describes winter cooking that can be satisfying without feeling heavy. Her soup builds flavour through slowly softened celery, carrot and onion, followed by garlic, rosemary, tomatoes and white beans.

Blending a portion of the beans gives the soup its creamy texture. The pasta is partly cooked separately, then finished in the soup immediately before serving. For the salad, Shadbolt roasts persimmon wedges until lightly caramelised and combines them with bitter leaves, hazelnuts and gorgonzola, dressed with lemon juice and olive oil.

For home cooks, the feature highlights how technique and contrasting ingredients shape winter meals. Shadbolt stresses a long cook for the soup’s vegetable base and late addition of pasta, which keeps expanding after serving. The salad offers a different balance, pairing the fruit’s sweetness with bitter leaves, sharp lemon and cheese.