Minestrone Classico con Verdure Fresche A Classic Italian Minestrone Soup Made with Fresh Vegetables

Minestrone is another classic of the “Cucina Povera” – cuisine of the common-folk in Italy, this one originating from Rome centuries ago. I present for you the GENUINE recipe for a dish that will make your dinner guests wonder how it’s ever possible that you could cook-up such a delicious soup. Even carnivores will enjoy this all-vegetarian dish.

I have not one, but two, classic minestrone recipes for you! One hot, one cold!

In this recipe, I will describe all the steps for the preparation of a delicious classic Italian Minestrone – a thick soup laden with fresh vegetables and rice. This is a healthy dish which also provides much comfort for those cold days of fall and winter. Aside from the traditional vegetables, like potatoes, carrots, and celery, I will suggest adding additional tasty vegetables, such as green onion, swiss chard, yellow squash, leek and a touch of flavor from Pesto Genovese. Once prepared, the minestrone can be kept in the refrigerator for up to two days. Alternatively, you could prepare this recipe without the rice and then store the minestrone in the freezer up to two months, preparing and adding rice as needed.

Here’s my recipe… Minestrone Classico

Il Ricettario di Sandrino

Minestrone Classic con Verdure Fresche Minestrone Freddo con Pesto

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Difficulty: a little bit of effort Servings: four

INGREDIENTS◦ 4 ounces – regular rice◦ 6 ounces – dry cannellini beans◦ 5 ounces – swiss chard◦ 2 carrots◦ 1 white or red potato◦ 8 ounces yellow squash◦ 2 celery stalks◦ 1 green (spring) onion◦ 1 small to medium leek - cut off the roots◦ 1 vegetable broth cube◦ 1 teaspoon pesto genovese (sauce)◦ extra virgin olive oil – to taste◦ salt and pepper – to taste

PREPARATIONIn a quart of water, soak the dried cannellini beans at room temperature for 8 hours in a covered container to soften. When done, drain the beans and discard the water.Bring 1 liter of salted water to a boil, add the presoaked beans, and allow to simmer for two hoursIn the meantime, you can prepare all the vegetables as follows: for the squash, peel and discard the seeds and filaments inside, then dice into .5-inch cubes; peel the potato and also dice; remove the ends from the carrots, scrape off any skin and dice; finely slice into disks the green onion as well as the leek; cut the leaves of the swiss chard into strips and chop the stems into small pieces; chop up the celery. All your ingredients for the minestrone are now ready.Add about 2 tablespoons of olive oil to a saucepan and sauté all the vegetables for a few minutes, except for the strips of swiss chard leaves. Save these for later. Add the beans, including the water they were simmering in. Add more water to cover all the contents.Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat, and cook for about 30 minutes.Add the strips of swiss chard leaves that you set aside, the vegetable broth cube, and the rice.Continue cooking until the rice is done; about 13 to 15 minutes.Once the minestrone is cooked, add the teaspoon of pesto and stir to blend in.Add salt and pepper to taste.Let the minestrone “rest” for a couple of minutes.Serve the minestrone. If desired, drizzle some extra virgin olive oil to the serving bowls.

Enjoy!

Grazie GialloZafferano.it

Sandro Cuccia sandro.cuccia@gmail.com 14 September 2018

Minestrone Classic con Verdure Fresche Minestrone Freddo con Pesto

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Minestrone Freddo con Pesto A Cold Minestrone for the Summer

Minestrone is not just a nice hot soup for those cold winter days … there are several cold versions of this classic – great for the warm months.

Here’s my recipe… Minestrone Freddo con Pesto

Difficulty: easy Servings: four

INGREDIENTS◦ 3 medium white onions◦ 1 pound – green beans◦ 3 tomatoes◦ 1 smallish yellow bell pepper◦ 1 smallish red bell pepper◦ 2 zucchine◦ 1 lettuce heart◦ 1 carrot◦ 3 or 4 fresh basil leaves◦ Extra Virgin Olive Oil ◦ Salt and pepper to taste◦ 1 tablespoon pesto genovese (sauce) per serving

PREPARATIONCarefully wash the tomatoes, peppers and carrot.Blanche the tomatoes for a few seconds to facilitate the removal of the skin. It helps if before dropping them in the boiling water, you score a little cross with a sharp knife on the bottom of the tomatoes. After a few seconds in the boiling water, remove the tomatoes and transfer them to a bowl of ice-cold water. Now, you should be able to peel them easily. Cut them in half, remove the seeds, and finely julienne the tomatoes.Finely julienne the bell peppers as well. If the peppers are too large, simply use half. Also finely julienne the carrots. These julienned veggies will be used as garnish later on.Season the vegetables with Extra Virgin Olive Oil … don’t skimp on this! Add a few leaves of finely chopped basil. Leave all to marinate for at least two hours in the refrigerator. This will help the vegetable flavors to meld together and to soften up. These will be used as garnish at the end.Wash the white onions and chop them into small cubes. Repeat this with the zucchine. Chop the green beans into half-inch pieces. Finally, slice the hearts of lettuce into fine strips.

Sandro Cuccia sandro.cuccia@gmail.com 14 September 2018

Minestrone Classic con Verdure Fresche Minestrone Freddo con Pesto

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Place three tablespoons of oil in a heated pot. Add the vegetables you just prepared – except for the lettuce strips – and sauté the vegetables, stirring vigorously for a couple of minutes. Then, add water to just cover the vegetables, being sure not to make the mixture too watery, and not too salty.When the water begins to boil, let the vegetables cook for about ten minutes. Remove the pan from the heat, add the lettuce strips and mix well. Add salt and pepper to taste.Pour the minestrone into a glass bowl and allow it to cool. When the minestrone is cold, add some of the copped basil leaves.Serve the minestrone in soup dishes or bowls, and rest on top, some of the julienned raw vegetables previously prepared.Finish up by adding a spoonful of prepared (or packaged) cold pesto sauce which should be fairly thick. Drizzle on some extra virgin olive oil and a twist of freshly ground pepper.Serve and enjoy!

A TAVOLA!!

Grazie Star Italia

Sandro Cuccia sandro.cuccia@gmail.com 14 September 2018