Minestrone Vegetable Soup
As one of the most popular Italian dishes, this vegetable soup stands out like a giant among dwarves. However, it makes no sense to talk about an authentic recipe: in different regions, indeed, in different villages minestrone may be cooked differently. Only one principle remains unchanged: only seasonal vegetables are used in the soup.
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Otherwise, minestrone is varied – it can be cooked in water or meat broth, contain pasta or rice, be light or thick; in Liguria, minestrone is flavored with a spoonful of pesto, and in Tuscany, the local cannellini beans are sure to be added. There are countless variations of minestrone, so don’t read too much into the list of ingredients, but go straight to the recipe: there I will tell you how to make minestrone with the vegetables you have today.
Ingredients
800 ml of vegetable broth or water
1 onion
3 garlic cloves
1 carrot
1 large potato or kohlrabi
100 g string beans
60 grams of noodles
1/2 tbsp. of boiled chickpeas or beans
2 tomatoes or 6-8 cherry tomatoes
few sprigs of greens
olive oil
salt
black pepper
Cooking
As practice shows, the most delicious minestrone is when it is cooked in vegetable broth - fragrant, rich, cooked without haste, the kind to which vegetables have already given all their flavor and aroma, and all that remains is to throw them away and take new ones for vegetable soup. If you do not want to strain - you can take plain water: such a minestrone will be good, but, of course, not ideal. Having decided on this, heat a couple of spoons of olive oil in a pan with a thick bottom and add finely chopped onion and garlic (if cooking with leeks or celery stalk, also add them at this stage). Roast the vegetables over medium heat for about 5 minutes, until they turn pale and begin to exude mind-blowing flavors.
Then turn up the heat and add the carrots and kohlrabi, chopped into small cubes (at this stage you can add other root vegetables, except potatoes, as well as pumpkin, zucchini or bell peppers). Roast the vegetables, stirring, for another 2-3 minutes, and then pour in the vegetable broth (or water). When the contents of the pot come to a boil, add the green beans (or broccoli florets or asparagus or leafy vegetables) and simmer for about 5 minutes at a low boil.
Then add the pasta: vermicelli is good because it cooks quickly, allowing a better timing of the minestrone vegetable soup. After the pasta, add the chickpeas or beans (boil them in advance or take canned ones), which only need to be heated, and tomatoes, cut into slices or halves. Once all the vegetables are in the pot, salt the minestrone to your liking.
To thicken the minestrone slightly, separately whip half of the chickpeas or beans with a couple of spoonfuls of broth, and add to the soup along with the rest of the legumes.
After 3 minutes remove the pot from the heat, add finely chopped herbs (parsley, fennel, dill or basil), cover and let stand for 2-3 minutes more. Serve the minestrone with a little olive oil and season with freshly ground black pepper.