Vegetable Minestrone Soup

Is there anything in the world more comforting than soup? Perhaps there is, but nothing will make you feel better after enjoying a nice hot bowl of soup. I love soups and creams, of all kinds and consistencies. The latest one I have prepared is this vegetable minestrone soup , with some other variations to suit my tastes.

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

I assure you that, even though it may not catch your attention at first, it is a soup that you will prepare on more than one occasion.

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

The word minestrone, meaning thick vegetable soup , is attested in English from 1871. It comes from the Italian minestrone, the augmentative form of minestra , "soup", or more specifically, "that which is served", from minestrare , "to serve".

What is Minestrone soup?

Minestrone soup is a variety of thick soup of Italian origin that is made with vegetables and is often accompanied by pasta, rice or legumes. In many cases, several of these are combined.

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

There is no set recipe for minestrone, as it can be made with any seasonal vegetables or whatever we have available at the 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 Romano beans) "are the beans to use for authentic, genuine minestrone."

In my case, I did not use this variety but rather small red beans. However, 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 into what became the Roman Kingdom (later the Roman Republic and Empire). At that time the local diet was "vegetarian by necessity" and consisted primarily of vegetables such as onions, lentils, cabbage, garlic, beans, mushrooms, carrots, asparagus and turnips.

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

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

Spelt flour was removed from soups when the Greeks introduced bread into the Roman diet. Pulte became a meal for the poor.

Marcus Apicius, ancient cookbook De Re Coquinaria .

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

As eating habits and ingredients changed in Italy, so did minestrone soup. Apicius updated pultes and pulticulae with “elegant garnishes” such as cooked brains and wine.

In the mid-16th century, the soup recipe was modified again when two new ingredients became available: tomatoes and potatoes , which arrived from America, becoming staple foods.

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

Among all the ingredients you will find one that may seem peculiar to us, achiote .

Achiote is a natural colorant , also called annatto , 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 season and color dishes.

The taste of achiote, if used in large quantities, can be earthy and spicy . You can adjust the amount to add to the recipe 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
• 300 g zucchini, washed and cut into pieces
• 130 g sweet onion, finely chopped
• 20 g fresh garlic, finely chopped
• 200 g celery, approximately 3 stalks, cut into pieces
• 225g Bobby green beans, washed and cut into fairly large pieces
• 280 g carrot, washed, peeled and sliced
• 115 g Italian red pepper, washed and chopped
• 125 g red beans, cooked
• 60 g fresh spinach, washed
• 1 dried chile de árbol
• ½ generous tablespoon of 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

We prepare the sofrito:

1. In the De Buyer sauté pan or directly in the bottom of the pressure cooker , add the olive oil and place over medium heat. Once it reaches temperature, add the onion along with the garlic.
2. Fry for 10 minutes, until it becomes semi-transparent . 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 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 become slightly softer in 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 sofrito together with the tomato paste, zucchini and red pepper. Mix well with a wooden spoon or spatula.
2. Add the broth.
3. Close the pot's lid, turn the lid knob to position 1 (recommended for delicate ingredients, such as vegetables) and place on high heat.
4. Once the cooking ring rises to the first green ring, set the timer and leave it for 5 minutes. It is important to check during cooking that the green ring does not rise or fall, 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 will quickly acquire a soft consistency.
8. Add freshly ground black pepper, mix and taste. Adjust salt and pepper if necessary.

We serve

1. When serving the soup, we can add the pasta and beans to the pot, mix and serve from there, or place the amount of pasta and beans per person on each plate or Revol tureen and then serve the soup with vegetables on top. I leave it up to you.
2. Once the soup is served, garnish with Parmesan shavings and a few fresh basil leaves.
3. We serve immediately.
4. If you wish, you can accompany it with garlic bread, croutons or even a few slices of toasted bread with butter and flaky salt.

GRADES:

• I recommend using a homemade broth , either vegetable or chicken. The flavour will be much better. As with tomato passata, if you make it at home, it will taste better. The latter can also be flavoured with basil if you wish.
• I recommend frying the vegetables before preparing the soup , this way we will be able to enhance the flavours and aromas, as well as the textures.
• You can vary the vegetables if you don't like any of them or you can add others that you prefer.
• In addition to oregano, other aromatic herbs that can be used include marjoram and thyme.
• In my case, after 4 minutes of cooking, I turn off the heat and let the last minute of cooking without the heat source on. The pot holds the heat very well and we can finish cooking without the direct heat source, plus we save a little on electricity (if you use a ceramic or induction cooktop). If you cook with gas, you can carry out this same step if you wish.
• We should use a variety of small-sized pasta . Any pasta you like or have at home will work well.
• I cook the pasta separately because I like it al dente . That way I can control the exact cooking point I want. The variety of pasta I used, being made with durum wheat, requires a longer cooking time than conventional pasta. It needs 15 minutes.
• If you don't have any, you can replace the achiote with concentrated tomato paste, or even sweet paprika. The flavor is not the same, but you will be able to add color to the soup.
• If we serve the pasta with the beans in each bowl or tureen, this will allow us to refrigerate or freeze any excess soup more satisfactorily. This is especially true for the pasta, since if we reheat it, it can acquire a soft texture that is not very pleasant to the palate.
• The soup can be frozen for up to 3 months.

You have probably prepared this minestrone soup on more than one occasion... Well , not specifically, but there are some similar ones.

So I encourage you to prepare this version that, I'm sure, you will fall in love with. Not only because it is so incredible, but because it takes so little time to prepare and enjoy.