Minestrone Soup (VIDEO)
MInestrone Soup…not just for cool weather. Clean out the veggie drawer with this one and customize for the season. Make for your kids and best girl or guy.
½ – 1 onion, yellow or white
1-3 carrots
1-3 ribs celery
2-3 cloves garlic
½-1 lb. Italian sausage (1 or 2 links or ½-1 lb. bulk)*
The Sister’s other meats that work just fine…
ground pork
ground turkey
ground beef
2-3 slices bacon or pancetta
Fennel seeds
Red pepper flakes
Thyme, oregano, basil or parsley, fresh or dried
2-3 cans beans, cannellini, chickpeas, great northern
Tomato product (couple T paste, ½ can tomatoes crushed, whole or plain sauce)
Other veg:
A couple of hard ones like potatoes, turnips, parsnips or sweet potatoes
Soft ones like zucchini, bell peppers
Greens like cabbage, kale, chard, spinach
1- Begin by heating a big soup pot over medium heat. Add a splash of olive oil and then the meat of your choice. Brown the meat, but not too aggressively.
Get some color in the bottom of the pot and cook the meat partway.
2- Remove the meat (unless you are using bacon) and set aside.
3- While the meat is cooking, dice the onion. Add it to the pot after you’ve removed the meat.
4- Dice the carrot and celery while the onion cooks.
5- Add some dried herbs if that’s what you are using and a pinch of red pepper flakes. Give it a pinch of salt.
6- Continue cooking until the vegetables have begun to sweat and give up some liquid, 5-7 minutes.
7- If your tomato product is paste, add a couple of spoonfuls now in hot spot you’ve cleared in the vegetables. Let the paste fry for a few moments before mixing it into the other vegetables.
8- Now add the beans. (Some people drain the beans and some don’t. The bean liquid has flavor and viscosity. It can add body to a soup that seems more brothy than you might like. It’s up to you. I wouldn’t use the bean liquid from all 3 cans. Maybe drain two and add liquid from one. )
9- Add any hard vegetables you are using – you should have diced all of them into similar sized pieces. Add potatoes or parsnips first, and then add some liquid. Liquid could be any of the following, singly or in combination: water, stock, tomatoes in juice or tomato sauce, wine. If you have some canned tomatoes, add them first, then bring up the level of the liquid to just about an inch over the top of the vegetables.
10- Bring the soup to a boil, and then reduce the heat to a simmer. Cook the hard veg until they are almost done (taste to find out).
11- Then add however much you want of the following: greens, shredded finely or diced about ½”, zucchini diced. Simmer for 6-7 minutes more. Taste the soup. Salt the soup and taste again.
12- When the greens are cooked, turn off the heat and add back the meat you reserved. The residual heat will continue cooking the meat just right. Taste the soup again. Add salt if necessary.
Serve:
13- Serve in a big bowl with bread and grated hard cheese, olive oil, and fresh parsley if you have it. Parsley is a sorely underutilized herb but it makes plain foods fresh and tasty. This soup will be even better the next day.