My favourite way to eat this is with toasted pumpernickel or rye bread as a warming meal-in-a-bowl. My “smart way” to cook it is with a pressure cooker which retains more nutrients and saves on energy too.
Parsley and parsley root proliferate in this winter vegetable melange and imbibe the soup with startlingly high levels of Vitamin C and magnesium as well perhaps it’s mystical ability to transport the eater between earth and the spirit world (as the ancient Greeks believed)!
It is of course Italy that claims “minestrone” as its own and now Sardinia has claimed it as a “Blue Zone” healthy ageing staple but there are variations all around the Mediterranean, all with their own versatile and thrifty takes on a “cucina povera” vegetable stew.
There are however a few rules!
This dish needs to burst with umami flavour which is created by an onion, celery (in this version parsley root gives the sweetness and slight aniseed note) and carrot soffrito. It need not contain rice or pasta but must be slightly thickened by beans and/or chicken peas and/or potato or squash. Adding pasta or rice is optional. To the base of root vegetables green leaves and fresh herbs are added which may be cabbage, Spinach, chard, lettuce and basil, parsley, chervil and tarragon.
Ingredients
With minestrone more really is more… its a great dish to make when you have been a bit over exuberant with your veg purchases! Just follow the proportions below and the dish will be beautifully balanced:
- 1 large onion and 3 fat cloves of garlic chopped very finely
- 500g root vegetables finely chopped ( parsley root, carrot and sweet potato)
- 300g of green leaves and fresh herbs ( 250g Spinach, 25g parsley, 25g basil)
- 100g Frozen fine peas
- Aromatics (3 Bay leaves, 1 tbsp whole peppercorns, 2tsp thyme, 2tsp salt and quarter of a whole lemon, 1 heaped tablespoon of red onion marmalade)
- Tomato (1 x400g tin of chopped tomatoes or fresh in the summer, 1 x 300 g tomato passata)
- Beans ( 500g of cooked haricot beans, chick pea and butterbeans)
- 2 litres of vegetable stock / cooking liquid from the beans (good quality organic stock cubes are fine)
- Optional 1 large potato halved (to be mashed into the soup liquid) a la Anna Del Conte if you like a gloomy soup ( I do!)
- Olive oil for frying the vegetables
- Best extra virgin olive oil plus grated parmesan for garnishing
How To
If you are cooking the beans from dry ( I always prefer the taste and texture) then start by cooking them in your pressure cooker ( I use the meat setting for 15 mins ) or cook them in a large saucepan with plenty of salted water.
I cook up a load and freeze small portions to use in other soups and stews, for bean mash and for hummus so generally cook up 1 kg of dried beans which yields a lot of cooked beans!
If it suits you, cooking the beans the day before helps a lot!
While the beans cook, wash and chop all the vegetables and leaves. I like to put some music on and chop meditatively! Unless your vegetables are very muddy just scrub them with a pot scourer which reduces waste, saves time and retains more of the Vitamin C which is just below the skin.
Then…
In a large pressure cooker pot or Le Creuset fry the onion and root vegetables in a generous amount of olive oil until the onion is translucent.
Add the garlic and the aromatics and stir on a low heat.
Add the tomatoes, passata and stock.
Pressure cook on the vegetable setting for 10 minutes.
As soon as the pressure is released open the lid and “layer” the soup! Squish on top of the soup base the fresh leaves and frozen peas and then top with the beans. Place the lid on and leave for an hour so that all the leaves wilt.
Like many stews this does taste better the next day but will be pretty wonderful fresh too.
Stir well and if using, mash the potato into the soup liquid. Then heat through before serving with a drizzle of your best aromatic olive oil and some grated parmesan.
For the full “Blue Zone” experience have a small glass of red wine with it and some crusty rustic bread.
Variations
To add rice or pasta simply add at the “re-heating” step and cook on a moderately high heat until the pasta or rice is done, and omit the mashed potato.