My refrigerator is stuffed full of fall harvest bounty. The Farmers Market and the grocery stores are also loaded. Fall vegetables are at their peak of abundance and flavor. It’s minestrone season, time to make a big pot and store it away for winter. I make really big batches and freeze family-sized portions.
Recipes for minestrone (including this one) are open to many, many variations and substitutions. Even in Italy, minestrone’s mother country, each family, village and region has multiple versions that morph with the available ingredients and season.
This is not a recipe, it’s a technique. Get creative with what you have, but follow these steps:
Vegetables are loaded with sugars. When you expose them to heat the sugars undergo a chemical transformation called caramelization, producing browning and sweet nutty flavors. Similarly, when you brown meat the amino acids (proteins), fats and sugars react together and produce rich, complex flavors. That’s called the Maillard reaction. Herbs, spices and pepper flavors are oil- and heat-soluble. They dissolve and intensify in this step, forming the essential rich foundation of the soup.
Foundation ingredients for vigorous sauté till nicely browned:
> Generous dollops of olive oil, onions and garlic
> Ground or finely cut meats
> Sliced or diced vegetables like carrot, celery, zucchini, eggplant, mushrooms, potato, okra,
green beans, sweet peppers
> Fresh and/or dried herbs, salt and pepper
Over high heat add water and chopped tomatoes in liquid form. Bubble, bubble, sputter, you can hear the foundation dissolve off the pan bottom and into the liquid, forming a rich stock.
Now slow the process down to marry the flavors. Add delicate vegetables like spinach, chard, kale or cabbage. Cover the pot and simmer gently till the vegetables are tender.
Beans, grains and pasta are the substantial nutritional elements, the protein and carbohydrates that make minestrone a filling meal in a bowl. One or all can join the party, but each must be separately precooked.
Beans, if cooked from scratch (meaning dry), must be started hours beforehand. Or use canned beans. I cook big batches of beans and store them in the freezer for uses like this. Add them with some of or all their cooking juices after the vegetables are tender.
Grains, preferably whole grains like barley, wheat, brown rice, spelt and quinoa, must cook separately. Most take about 45 minutes. Add them when the vegetables are tender. Watch out: grains like to expand and crowd out everyone else. Go lightly.
Pasta is a classic addition, but not essential. Use short and thick or tiny soup-pasta shapes. Cook pasta separately and add it at the last minute, just before serving, to preserve a firm texture.
When the recipe says “adjust seasoning,” it means ‘balance.’ It’s the part where you taste, taste and taste. Taste for the flavor balance where sweet, salt, sour and richness meet. Use your toolbox: salt, pepper, and tomatoes for acidity. Add dried or fresh herbs. Try a variety of rosemary, oregano, marjoram, sage, thyme, parsley and basil. Chop finely and add gradually, tasting as you go. The same goes for salt, it’s an essential balancer. Just be careful: work to produce the best minestrone you have ever tasted, and everyone else will love it. By the way, to fix over-salted soup, remove half the soup. Strain out the solids. Rinse them with water. Return these solids to the soup pot with additional water.
Garnish is the final fresh layer for a great minestrone. The classic garnishes are fresh chopped parsley and a grating of sharp parmesan or pecorino romano cheese. Or drizzle with pesto, dust with freshly ground black pepper and/or top with a fine dice of fresh tomatoes or red peppers.
Italians have a secret weapon for making minestrone: it’s the rind from parmesan cheese. After you’ve grated away the interior of your wedge of parmesan, take the remaining rind and store it in the freezer. When it’s time to make minestrone, pop the rind in the soup when you add the greens and liquid. It adds a magic umami flavor to the soup. Just don’t forget to fish out the rind before serving. (Rinse it off and refreeze for reuse.)
Let the soup cool at room temperature for no more than an hour, and transfer it to portioned containers, leaving a half inch of headroom for expansion, then label and date. Place them in the freezer, packing fully frozen containers around them or allowing for cold air circulation. Freeze solid. To serve, defrost in the microwave or at room temperature, then transfer to a pot to finish heating. Taste and adjust seasonings. Add pasta and garnishes before serving.
Enjoy! È delizioso! Buon appetito!
Makes about 16 cups
Foundation ingredients
¼ cup pure olive oil or more, as needed
2 medium yellow onions, cut into ½-inch dice
6 large cloves garlic, minced
Meats (optional)
Use one or a mixture totaling ½ pound or less:
Ground or finely cut beef, chicken, pork or Italian sausage
Salami, prosciutto, ham, bacon or pancetta, cut into ½-inch pieces
Vegetables
6–8 cups sliced or diced. Mix and match. Examples:
1 medium carrot, quartered and sliced
1 medium stalk celery, sliced
2 medium zucchinis, quartered and sliced
½ pound eggplant, ½-inch dice
½ pound mushrooms, ½-inch dice
1 large red or yellow potato, cut into ½-inch dice
¼ pound green beans or okra, trimmed and cut into ½-inch pieces
1 medium red or green sweet pepper, ½-inch dice
Vegetables to avoid: Corn, winter squash, pumpkin, sweet potatoes (too sweet), russet potatoes (too mushy)
Herbs, seasonings and greens
Use a balance of fresh and/or dried herbs such as sage, rosemary, oregano, thyme, bay leaf, basil and parsley.
(One part dried herbs equals three parts fresh.)
One combination: ¼ cup minced herbs consisting of fresh sage, rosemary and oregano
Salt and freshly ground black pepper as needed
¼ bunch of kale, chard, collard greens or spinach, cut fine
½ pound cabbage, sliced
Liquid
Water as needed
2–3 cups fresh grated tomato made by cutting the tomato in half and grating it into a bowl
or 2–3 cups canned diced or crushed tomatoes with liquid
Substantial additions (optional)
½ cup grains like brown rice, barley, wheat berries, spelt or quinoa, cooked and set aside
1 cup dry short and thick or 1 cup small soup pasta, cooked al dente and set aside
½ cup dry beans or 1½ cups cooked beans with a firm texture, like garbanzo, borlotti, cannellini, black, navy, kidney, lima, tepary, lentils or black-eyed peas. Save the cooking liquid to add to the soup.
Garnish options
¼ cup minced fresh Italian parsley
1 cup freshly grated Pecorino Romano or Parmesan cheese
Cracked black pepper
A swirl of pesto
Chopped fresh tomato or chopped roasted red pepper
Heat olive oil in a large, heavy-bottom pot. Add onions and garlic, and sauté over high heat, stirring regularly, until you see some browning. Add meat if using and stir till lightly browned. Add additional vegetables one at a time, allowing each to brown a little. Add herbs, salt and pepper. Continue stirring regularly.
When the veggies are wilted and browned, add the greens, tomatoes and enough water to cover soup by 1 inch. Stir, scraping the bottom of the pan. Bring to a boil. Then reduce heat to a simmer, cover and cook 20–30 minutes, until vegetables are tender. Add grains and beans if using and enough bean cooking liquid or water to cover soup by 1 inch. Taste and adjust seasoning.
How thick do you make minestrone? Thick enough to hold the stirring spoon upright in the pot. So, I usually add a few more vegetables at this point to get the consistency that I want. Simmer slowly, covered, another 15–30 minutes. Taste and adjust seasoning again. (If freezing the soup, stop here.)
Add pasta (if using) and garnishes just before serving.
Chef Molly Beverly is Prescott's leading creative food activist and teacher. Photos by Gary Beverly.
