Minestrone soup

Minestrone soup is an Italian vegetable soup. It usually also contains either rice or pasta. There is no solid ingredient list or recipe for minestrone it is because the ingredients depends on the type of vegetables in season. So, really you can make minestrone on the leftovers you have in the fridge. What makes this soup Italian is of course the pasta (if not replace with rice) added together with cheese garlic, and maybe also the herbs.

Minestrone soup recipe

I never get rice in my minestrone. Pasta also boils faster, so the soup is served faster than with rice as ingredient.  And like me, you also love FAST moments!

Ingredients:

Servings: for four people

• 1 onion
• 4 spring onions, 1 onion
• 4 cloves of garlic
• 400 g potatoes
• 300 g carrots
• ½ broccoli
• 2 stalks of celery
• A little fresh sage and parsley
• Olive oil for frying
• 1 liter vegetable broth
• 1 canned kidney beans
• 100 g farfalle pasta
• 2-3 tbsp. lemon juice
• parmesan
• Salt

How to prepare the soup

1. First, I ordered all the vegetables. Cut onion and spring onions in smaller pieces and mince the garlics well. I peeled the potatoes and the carrots and cut them into small cubes as well as the broccoli. The leaf celery was also cut into thin slices. The herbs were chopped also.
2. Then I sauté onion, spring onions and garlic into a little olive oil.
3. When the onions were ready in the color, I added the potatoes and the broth.
4. After the potatoes had simmer for 5 minutes under low heat, I added spices, beans and pasta.
5. Carrots, broccoli and celery were added 5 minutes before the pasta was cooked to perfection – I do not like if these vegetables boil too much.
6. Finally, the soup was flavored with lemon juice and salt.
7. The soup is served with grated parmesan and possibly a little more fresh herbs.

Other vegetables for your soup

You can also use peas, corn, tomatoes, peppers, squash, or whatever fresh vegetables in your minestrone soup. There are almost no exceptions for which vegetables you can use. However, some vegetables can be the exemption – like cucumbers and the likes, radishes, or those usually used in a vegetable salad. Like the vegetables, the herbs can also be varied according to taste and access to them.

Pasta in minestrone soup

I always use small pastas in my minestrone. If you are using spaghetti or similar, I recommend that you break them before you get them in the soup.

There is no need for bread for minestrone, because it saturates well without it. But that is of course your choice. Some people just cannot eat soup without bread. Cabbage bread or a coarse bread will be perfect for minestrone.

Drink white wine for minestrone soup

Serve white wine with good acid for the soup, for example Sauvignon Blanc grape or if the wine must be Italian like the soup, then a Trebbiano d’Abruzzo, which is also a wine that can be obtained at a reasonable price.

The wine may be cooled, but not too cold. Smelling hot soup and icing cold wine is not a pleasant combination.

Then there’s only one left to say, that is bon appetite!

Preparation time: 10 minutes

Cooking time: 15 minutes