Recipe: Marina's Minestrone Soup

Marina makes this soup so easily and now I make it often.  Before joining my Italian family, I disliked Minestrone Soup intensely.  The variety I grew up with, was from a can and never homemade.

The soup tastes slightly different every time it's made, depending on the vegetables used.  When using butternut squash in the Fall, the soup has a wonderful autumn color. From start to finish this soup is done in less than one hour.

One can vary the vegetables used. Use what seasonal vegetables you like.  The soup freezes well but do not freeze with pasta added.

Minestrone Soup (4 servings)

3 quart saucepan
 
1 zucchini
2-3 fresh tomatoes
1/4 cabbage
2 large leaves of collard or other green leaf (pull leaf off the center vein, discarding vein)
1/4 red onion
1 carrot, cut into 4 pieces
1 clove garlic, peeled
1 sprig parsley
4 sprigs fresh thyme
1-2 small dried peperoncini (tiny red peppers)
1 T olive oil
salt to taste
 
~*~*~Optional~*~*~

Pipette Rigate pasta – 86 Barilla or any small pasta or broken spaghetti
1 cup canned cannellini (white beans) or barlotti beans (fagioli barlotti), drained and rinsed
Alternate vegetables:  1 leek (white only), 1 cup butternut squash, green beans, 1 stalk celery, fresh basil

~*~*~~*~*~~*~

Lightly place vegetables into a 3 quart sauce pan.  You will know you have enough vegetables when the pan is filled.  Just cover with cool water. Cover with lid and simmer for 45-60 minutes. 

When the carrot tests done, remove the pan from the stovetop.  Purée the mixture for 1 minute or until it reaches your preferred consistency.

I use a Braun 200 watt immersion blender and purée it right in the saucepan.

One can add either pasta or beans to the purée.

For pasta: in a separate pan, boil pasta of your choice in boiling salted water for its normal cooking time.  Add the cooked pasta to the soup just before serving, otherwise the pasta becomes waterlogged.

Top with grated Grana or Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese and a bit of cut parsley for presentation.