Minestrone

Many vegetables added in order of toughness, with a parmesan rind in the pot.

Not vegetarian — contains parmesan whose rennet the source does not name.

Ingredients

• 200 g dried cannellini beans, soaked overnight
• 1 onion, 2 carrots, 2 celery sticks, chopped small
• 2 potatoes, diced
• 200 g savoy cabbage, shredded
• 200 g green beans, in short lengths
• 2 courgettes, diced
• 200 g peas
• 300 g tinned tomatoes
• 1 parmesan rind, about 10 cm
• 150 g small pasta
• 6 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 teaspoons salt

Method

1. Cook the soaked beans 70 minutes and keep the water.
2. Soften the onion, carrot and celery in the oil for 15 minutes. This soffritto is the base and it wants the time.
3. PUT THE PARMESAN RIND IN THE POT with the tomatoes and bean water, and leave it there throughout. It gives a savoury depth that no amount of grated cheese at the table replaces. Fish it out before serving.
4. NOW THE VEGETABLES IN ORDER OF TOUGHNESS: potato and cabbage 20 minutes, green beans 10, courgette 6, peas 3. Tipped in together the courgettes are mush before the potato is done.
5. THERE IS NO STAR INGREDIENT. That is the difference from a pasta e fagioli, where the beans are the dish — here no single vegetable should dominate, and the list changes with what is in season.
6. Add the beans and cook the pasta in the soup for its packet time.
7. It should be thick, not soupy. Rest it 15 minutes and serve with raw oil over each bowl.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under Italy · All recipes