Minestrone

[SobaAddict70]

Lately, I've been thinking I want to make a pot of minestrone, like maybe this weekend after I get back from USGM. Minestrone is a wonderfully versatile soup that can take on many different forms because its ingredients depend on the season and what's available at the market.

Some examples:

Harvest minestrone -- onion, potatoes, pancetta, cabbage, Swiss chard, zucchini, celery stalks, celery leaves, string beans, squash, tomatoes, RG beans, water.

Summer minestrone -- onion, summer squash, green beans, fresh tomato, corn, carrot, cheese, vegetable stock

Spring minestrone -- onion, ramps, asparagus, carrot, heirloom potatoes, celery, watercress, shallots, parsnips, RG beans, cheese. I used chicken stock this time around.

In general, I prefer a light version where the vegetables aren't cooked to death, and where tomato isn't so predominant. I usually include pasta or beans. Sometimes I'll serve with a thick slice of crispy toast that's been rubbed with crushed garlic and drizzled with a little olive oil.

How do you make yours?

[Katie Meadow]

Soba, beautiful as always. I suspect I would eat anything you make, happily.

Define minestrone. Is it just vegetable soup in Italian?

If I make a seasonal multi-vegetable soup with some beans, some pasta, some dark leafy greens like chard or black kale, and at least a little bit of fresh or canned tomato I might call it Minestrone. I typically use a chicken based stock. If instead of beans and/or pasta I add barley or rice or couscous I probably would not call it Minestrone.

I make a chard and vegetable soup with noodles and use harissa for flavoring, and that sometimes has a little tomato if it's summer, but in the winter, not. So that can't be called Minestrone. But truthfully, I am clueless about what qualifies.

[SobaAddict70]

Soba, beautiful as always. I suspect I would eat anything you make, happily.

Define minestrone. Is it just vegetable soup in Italian?

If I make a seasonal multi-vegetable soup with some beans, some pasta, some dark leafy greens like chard or black kale, and at least a little bit of fresh or canned tomato I might call it Minestrone. I typically use a chicken based stock. If instead of beans and/or pasta I add barley or rice or couscous I probably would not call it Minestrone.

I make a chard and vegetable soup with noodles and use harissa for flavoring, and that sometimes has a little tomato if it's summer, but in the winter, not. So that can't be called Minestrone. But truthfully, I am clueless about what qualifies.

Apprently there are several definitions depending on your point of view.

See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minestrone for example.

There is no set recipe for minestrone, since it is usually made out of whatever vegetables are in season. It can be vegetarian, contain meat, or contain a meat-based broth (such as chicken stock).

Due to its unique origins and the absence of a fixed recipe, minestrone is not particularly similar across Italy: it varies depending on traditional cooking times, ingredients, and season. Minestrone ranges from a thick and dense texture with very boiled-down vegetables, to a more brothy soup with large quantities of diced and lightly cooked vegetables that may include meats.

In modern Italian there are three words corresponding to the English word 'soup': zuppa, which is used in the sense of tomato soup, or fish soup; minestra, which is used in the sense of a more substantial soup such as a vegetable soup, and also for 'dry' soups, namely pasta dishes; and minestrone, which means a very substantial or large soup or stew, though the meaning has now come to be associated with this particular dish.

Minestrone can be really hearty and substantial, depending of course on what you put in it.

Edited May 4, 2011 by SobaAddict70 (log)

[weinoo]

I always like to use parmesan "crusts" when I make a minestrone. I save the ends in a plastic bag for just this reason. Using a sharp knife, and being very careful, I cut up a few ounces into 1/2" cubes. They are almost meaty once they've simmered in the soup and add a certain deliciousness.

[DTBarton]

We have very good luck with the Minestrone di Romagna recipe in Marcella Hazan's "Classic Italian Cookbook".

Gradual layering of vegetables and beans. She lists the parmesan crusts as "optional". I think not, they're essential.

Make it about 2 days ahead of time.

[BarbaraY]

When I was about 14 I found a recipe in the old American Weekly for Minestrone. It was made with a soup bone, beans, potatoes, carrots, onion, garlic, canned green beans, cabbage, canned tomatoes, and elbow macaroni. When finished it was garnished with minced parsley.

Imagine my surprise when I tasted it and found it tasted just like the "soup" that my Italian neighbors had almost every day for lunch. She usually made it with what they had growing in their bounteous garden.

That has been my base recipe ever since although I now almost always add basil or pesto. Almost any vegetable available goes into the pot.