Description
Inspired by the book "Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking"
Ingredients
- Zucchini ( diced) - 400-500 gm
- Diced carrots- 1 cup
- Diced potatoes- 2 cups
- Onion ( chopped into small pieces)- 1 cup
- Frozen or fresh green peas- 100 gm
- Shredded cabbage- 2 cups
- Celery ( diced)-1 cup
- Cooked white kidney beans- 1 1/2 cup
- Plum Tomatoes- 2/3 cup
- Butter- 3 tbsp
- Virgin Olive Oil-5 tbsp
- Parmigiano-reggiano Cheese-1/2 cup
- Salt- To Taste
- Whole black pepper- 7
- Water- 2 cups
- Homemade Meat Broth-2 cups
Instructions
- Trim ends of each zucchini. Finely dice them.
- Choose a large saucepan that can accommodate all the ingredients. Put butter and oil, heat it. In the meanwhile chop onions into small pieces. Fry them in the uncovered saucepan over medium heat till it becomes colored a pale gold. Don't over-fry.
- Dice carrots, potatoes, celery. Shred the cabbage.
- Add diced carrots to the saucepan with fried onions. Fry 2-3 minutes, stirring twice.
- Add 1 cup of diced celery. Stir occasionally. Fry 3 minutes.
- Add diced potatoes. ( again fry 3-4 minutes, stirring occasionally).
- Add green peas to the saucepan. After 2-3 minutes add the diced zucchini. Stir from time to time. ( 3-4 min)
- Add shredded cabbage and cook for another 5-6 minutes.
- Now add Chicken broth or Beef Broth( even vegetable broth will be good), salt, whole black pepper, fine Italian tomatoes with their juice. Mix all the ingredients.
- Lower the heat, cover the saucepan and cook 1 hour.
- When the soup is cooked, add white kidney beans and cook for another 20 minutes.Cook until the consistency is dense enough.
- Minestrone will never be thin and watery. If the soup is getting too thick ,you can dilute it a bit with your homemade broth or just boiled water.
- Serve with grated Parmigiano-reggiano Cheese.
Notes
7-8 Servings
The soup is even better when reheated the next day.
You can refrigerate the soup up to 1 week.
- Prep Time: 20 mins
- Cook Time: 2 hours
- Category: Soup recipes
- Cuisine: Italian