Minestrone Soup (Vegetable Soup)
Simple Recipes Italian Budget Recipes Low Calorie Recipes Vegetables Soups and Stews
Minestrone alla Genovese: nourishing, vitamin-rich and affordable. Besides the vegetables I used, depending on the season and what you have in your fridge when you want to prepare it, you can also add others: eggplant, cauliflower, broccoli, green bean pods, kohlrabi, peppers, etc. Depending on the cooking time, add them to the soup from the beginning or in the second batch. And pesto is mandatory, because it gives an incredible aroma and only then does it deserve the name "alla Genovese".
Ingredients
1 carrot
1 yellow onion
1 leek
1 celery stalk
1 large potato
2 peeled tomatoes
1 handful dried porcini mushrooms
1 zucchini
4 tablespoons peas (fresh or frozen)
4 tablespoons cooked beans
2 handfuls spinach (about 50g)
1/4 small cabbage (about 150g)
a handful of pasta of any kind (I used 40g egg noodles)
2 tablespoons pesto (homemade or store-bought)
50 ml olive oil
salt, pepper
Servings: 10
How to prepare minestrone soup (vegetable soup)
- Cut the carrot, onion, celery, leek and potato into cubes of the same size.
- Heat the oil in a pot and sauté the vegetables above over low heat until the onion softens.
- Cover everything with 2 cups of water, add the diced tomatoes, 1 teaspoon of salt, pepper and let it cook covered, over medium-low heat, for 45 minutes.
- Cover the dried mushrooms with hot water and let them soak for 10 minutes. Drain well and chop finely.
- Dice the zucchini the same as the other vegetables. Cut the cabbage into thin shreds. Leave the spinach whole, just wash it and remove the stems if it's older spinach.
- Add the rest of the vegetables (zucchini, beans, peas, spinach, cabbage, mushrooms), another 2 1/2 cups of water (enough to cover all vegetables), salt to taste (I added another 1 1/2 level teaspoons of salt) and continue cooking for another 30 minutes, still covered, still on low heat. In the last 5 minutes add the noodles.
* depending on the type of pasta you use, read the cooking time on the package and add them to the soup that much time before; my noodles had a cooking time of 5 minutes. - Add the pesto, stir and turn off the heat.
First batch of vegetables cooking
The rest of the vegetables
Add the rest of the vegetables to the soup
