Vegetable Minestrone Soup

Is there anything in the world more comforting than soup? It is possible that yes, but nothing will make you feel better after enjoying a good hot dish of this preparation. I adore soups and creams, of all types and consistencies. The last one that I have prepared is this vegetable minestrone soup , with some other variation to adjust it to my tastes.

It is not the original and traditional recipe, but it does maintain the base that is used to carry it out. Although, in reality, it is not a preparation that requires a specific recipe.

I assure you that, despite the fact that at first it does not attract your attention too much, it is a soup that you are going to prepare on more than one occasion.

The good thing about this soup is that if we leave some preparations ready, we will have it ready in just 5 minutes! And how is it possible? Making use of the Perfect Premium WMF pot . As easy as adding all the elements inside, placing the heat and letting it cook while we set the table and prepare the rest of the things.

The word minestrone, which means thick vegetable soup , has been attested in English since 1871. It comes from the Italian minestrone, an augmentative form of minestra , "soup", or more specifically, "what is served", from minestrare , "to serve". ".

What is Minestrone soup?

Minestrone soup is a variety of thick soup of Italian origin made with vegetables and often served with pasta, rice, or legumes. On many occasions several of them are combined.

The most commonly used ingredients are beans, onion, garlic, celery, carrot, broth and tomato.

There is no established recipe to prepare the minestrone, since it can be carried out with any vegetable that is in season or that we have at our disposal at that time. It can contain meat, only vegetables or a mixture of both.

Author Angelo Pellegrini stated that the base of minestrone is bean broth and that borlotti beans (also called romaine beans) "are the beans to use for genuine, authentic minestrone."

In my case, I have not used that variety but some small-calibre red beans. But, if you wish and want, you can use this type of bean.

Origin of Minestrone soup.

Some of the earliest origins of minestrone soup predate the expansion of the Latin tribes from Rome, which became the Roman Kingdom (later the Roman Republic and Empire). At that time the local diet was "necessary vegetarian" and consisted mainly of vegetables such as onions, lentils, cabbage, garlic, broad beans, mushrooms, carrots, asparagus and turnips.

During this time, the main course at a meal was pulte , a kind of simple porridge made from spelled flour scalded in salt water, to which was added any variety of vegetables available or in season.

When Rome conquered Italy and monopolized the trade and road networks, it flooded the capital and began to change its diet by merging with the diet of Italy. This led to a frequent addition of meats, even to make broths for soups.

Spelled flour was removed from soups as the Greeks introduced bread into the Roman diet. The pulte became a meal for the poor.

Marcus Apicius, old cookbook De Re Coquinaria .

In it he describes polus , a copy of the soup from Roman dating to AD 30 made with farro, chickpeas, broad beans, onion, garlic, lard and vegetables.

As Italian eating habits and ingredients changed, so did minestrone soup. Apicius updated the pultes and pulticulae with "fancy trimmings" like boiled brains and wine.

In the middle of the 16th century, the soup recipe was modified again by having two new ingredients available, tomatoes and potatoes that came from America, becoming staple foods.

The tradition of not losing rural roots is something that is maintained today. Minestrone soup is known in Italy as a style of cooking called " cucina povera " - "poor kitchen". They are dishes with rustic and rural roots, as opposed to " cucina nobile " a cooking style of the aristocracy and nobles.

Among all the ingredients you will find one that may be particular to us, the achiote .

Annatto is a natural coloring , also called anatto , onoto or bijol . It is obtained from a small tree whose fruit is oval and fleshy with seeds that give rise to this spice. In some countries it is used as a substitute for saffron to flavor and color dishes.

The flavor of achiote, if used in large quantities, can be earthy and spicy . The amount to add in the recipe, you can adjust it to your tastes.

Recipe adapted from Alpha Foodie

Ingredients (for 6 servings)

• 1.5 liters of vegetable or chicken broth, preferably homemade
• 340 g tomato passata, preferably homemade
• 3-4 tablespoons of olive oil
• 300g zucchini, washed and cut into chunks
• 130g sweet onion, finely chopped
• 20 g fresh garlic, finely chopped
• 200g celery, about 3 stalks, cut into chunks
• 225g Bobby green beans, washed and cut into rather large chunks
• 280g carrot, washed, peeled and sliced
• 115g Italian red bell pepper, washed and chopped
• 125g red kidney beans, cooked
• 60 g fresh spinach, washed
• 1 dried chile de árbol
• ½ generous tablespoon dried oregano
• ½ teaspoon of achiote, we can adjust to taste
• salt and freshly ground black pepper

• 270 g of small dry pasta, in my case I used orecchiette
• Parmesan cheese flakes
• fresh basil leaves

Elaboration

Prepare the sauce:

1. In the De Buyer saute pan or directly in the bottom of the Slow Cooker , add the olive oil and place over medium heat. Once it takes temperature, we add the onion along with the garlic.
2. Sauté for 10 minutes, until it acquires a semi-transparent texture . The heat should not be high to prevent the ingredients from browning.
3. Add the chile, mashed with your hands (remember to remove the stem) along with the oregano and the achiote. Stir and cook over medium heat for 2 minutes .
4. Add the Bobby green beans along with the carrots and celery. Cook for 7-8 minutes over medium heat, stirring occasionally. The vegetables should acquire a slightly softer texture, but still remain firm.
5. We remove from the heat.

We prepare the soup

1. In the WMF Perfect Premium pressure cooker add all the sauce together with the tomato paste, zucchini and red pepper. Mix well with a wooden spoon or spatula.
2. Add the broth.
3. Close the lid of the pot, turn the lid wheel to position 1 (recommended for delicate ingredients, such as vegetables) and place over high heat.
4. Once the cooking ring rises to the first green ring, set the timer and leave for 5 minutes. It is important to check during cooking that the green ring does not go up or down, it must remain in that position.
5. Once the cooking time is complete, turn off the heat and remove the pot from the heat source.
6. Release the steam and open the lid.
7. Add the spinach and mix, they immediately acquire a soft consistency.
8. Add freshly ground black pepper, mix and taste. If necessary, rectify salt and pepper.

we serve

1. When serving the soup, we can add the pasta and beans to the pot, mix and serve from there, or arrange the amount of pasta and beans per person on each Revol plate or tureen , and then serve the soup with vegetables. about her. I leave it to your choice.
2. Once the soup is served, accompany it with Parmesan flakes and some fresh basil leaves.
3. We serve right away.
4. If you wish, you can accompany it with garlic bread, croutons/croutons or even a few slices of toasted bread with butter and salt flakes.

GRADES:

• I advise you to use a homemade broth , either vegetable or chicken. The taste will be much better. Like the tomato passata, if we make it at home, it will taste better. The latter can also be flavored with basil if you wish.
• I recommend you to fry the vegetables before proceeding to prepare the soup , in this way we will be able to greatly enhance the flavors and aromas. In addition to the textures.
• The vegetables can be varied if you don't like any of them or you can incorporate others that you prefer.
• As aromatic herbs you can use, in addition to oregano, marjoram or thyme.
• In my case, after 4 minutes of cooking, I turn off the heat and let the last minute cook without the heat source on. The pot maintains the heat very well and we can finish cooking without the direct heat source, we also favor that little light saving (if you use a ceramic or induction hob). In the case of cooking with gas, we can carry out this same step if you wish.
• We must use a variety of pasta of small size . Anyone you like or have at home will go well.
• I cook the pasta separately because I like it al dente . That way I can control the exact cooking point that I want. The variety of pasta that I have used, being made with durum wheat, requires a longer cooking time than conventional pasta. You need 15 minutes.
• The achiote, if you do not have it, can be replaced by concentrated tomato paste, even sweet paprika or paprika. The flavor is not the same at all, but you will manage to add color to the soup.
• If we serve the pasta along with the beans on each plate or soup tureen, this will allow us to refrigerate or freeze a surplus of soup in a more satisfactory way. Especially for the pasta since if we re-heat it, it can acquire a soft texture and not very pleasant to the palate.
• The soup can be frozen up to 3 months.

Surely you have prepared this minestrone soup on more than one occasion... Well , it's not exactly there, but something similar.

So I encourage you to prepare this version that, I'm sure, you will fall in love with. Not only because of how incredible it is, but also because of how little it took us to prepare and enjoy it.