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Minestrone Soup!!
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10-02-2009 8:04pm#1
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Hi all,
I join this old post because Minestrone (with capital "M" is one of my all times favorite). My recipe contains only vegetables, but it's really good and simple.
Notes: you'll need a big pot (possibly a terracotta one) and as much time as you can. Minestrone is best cooked very slowly, so it can take some hours to be ready.
Finely dice 2 sticks of celery and a medium onion. Sweat in some olive oil with a couple of finely sliced cloves of garlic.
Add the following vegetables (if using dried beans/chickpeas, put them in water the day before).
- 2 carrots, cut in round slices (not too thin).
- Strips of cabbage. Even the outer leaves, which are normally though, can be used, as they will become soft.
- Chickpeas.
- Borlotti beans (if you don't have Borlotti, you can use kidney beans or pinto beans).
- Lentils.
- Green beans (fresh or frozen).
- Peas (fresh or frozen).
- Spinach (fresh or frozen).
- A handful of mushrooms, better if Porcini.
- One or two medium potatoes, cubed.
- One leek, cut in round slices.
- One big courgette, cut in round slices.
- Some tomato concentrate, or some peeled tomatoes (I personally don't like the skin).
- OPTIONAL: some mixed herbs and some freshly ground black pepper (not too much).
Vegetables should be generously covered by water to ensure they will cook properly.
Where quantity is not specified, you could put one or two handfuls. It really depend on your taste, but normally with one or two handful of each you already end up with a good amount of Minestrone (which, in my case, rarely lasts more than one day anyway).
As previously mentioned, cook covered at very low heat. It should barely simmer, not boil. Keep an eye on it and add water if needed. From time to time, give it a stir to ensure that all the vegetables cook evenly.
When the Minestrone is almost ready (take a spoon of it and check the texture of the vegetables), add some basil.
If you want to obtain a perfect result, you should add vegetables in order of toughness, so the hardest ones will cook longer. It takes practice, however, so I normally just put them in the water one after the other, preparing the next while the previous is already in the pot.
If you don't like big chunks, before serving it you can quickly blend it. You'll obtain a nice creamy texture, without using cream (which makes it fairly light).
Optionally, when serving it, you can add parmesan as a topping, or also some good extra virgin olive oil. Croutons go very well with it. 0 -
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