Cold-weather is coming, it's Autumn, a few weeks to Winter time: rain and wind will begin to take their toll... But the chillier it gets outside, the more tempted we are to warm us up in our kitchen with an old, poor-style Italian recipe: minestrone soup. This famous homemade soup has hundreds of ways to prepare in every season and in every region and has been much imitated around the world. A lot of vegetables, plenty of different colours, mixed for a tasty and healthy meal. Adapt it to the season and to your own tastes, using only veggies you like more, or adding any (peas, cauliflower, also mushrooms) you wish, to create a hearty meal. MINESTRONE SOUP with erbs
2 big potatoes 4 carrots 1 celery 2 onions 10 ounces green beans 2 cups spinach leaves 3 zucchinis 3 cloves garlic 2 cups tomato sauce, or chopped tomatoes 1 tablespoon oregano, 1 tablespoon thyme, 1 tablespoon rosemary, finely chopped salt, pepper, extra virgin oil as needed chopped fresh parsley OPTIONAL: small kind of pasta or lightly toasted bread (crostini), or oats or barley - cannellini beans (a nice way to add protein: you can get them in can, also ready, as well as cooking them, soaking the beans a day before you make the soup, then boiling in a pot with water about 30 minutes) - grated parmesan - pesto Preparation: Clean and rinse all veggies, and start chopping and slicing. In a large stock pot, over medium heat, put extra virgin olive oil and saute garlic and onion for 4 to 5 minutes (add a bit of water if needed), then, in order, carrots and celery, potatoes and finally zucchinis, sauting each of them for 1 to 2 minutes. Add tomato sauce, bring to boil, stirring frequently. Add green beans, spinach leaves, aromatics, salt and pepper, cover with water, bring to boil, reduce heat to low and simmer for around 20/30 minutes, stirring occasionally, until vegetables are barely tender. At this point you'll get a lot of possibilities: 1) ladle the soup into four bowls and let cool a bit, seasoning with extra virgin oil, parsley and grated parmesan, if you like it. 2) over heat, add cannellini beans, and season as above. 3) stick in your immersion blender, processing into a pureed vegetable soup (this way your children will be happier...), and make seasoning as above (about cannellini beans add a half before processing and a half after). 4) add pasta, or oats, or barley (pay attention to cooking minutes out for different items); otherwise you can add crostini and season as above. 5) at the moment of serving stir in a tablespoon of pesto (pesto alla genovese is great, but it is also very tasty with pesto di maggiorana . A dollop of pesto goes into the soup, giving it a round rich flavor and an emerald colour. There is also a saying in Genoa that "chi mangia pesto non lascia mai Genova" "He who eats pesto never leaves Genoa". The legend says if you stick the spoon into this thick minestrone soup, it has to stand up straight right. In genovese version you can eat this soup the day after, also at room temperature in summer. In traditional genovese recipe you should avoid tomato sauce and aromatic herbs too. It's a bit of work, but it's worth it... and, if you don't have exactly all that veggies, don't worry, simply invent... it is up to you! And if you have extra soup? It's a good thing! Pack it up in individual portions in containers and freeze them for those days later this season when you're too tired, or too cold...
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