I sat down last night to write a Minestrone recipe and promptly rambled about how I was going to go about said Minestrone recipe to the tune of about 400 words then went to bed because I was tired.  So here is a loose take on a Minestrone recipe.

  1. A good soup often starts with bones, leftover or otherwise.  In my case I used a combination of pork rib bones and chicken bones.  All pork can be a little ‘porky’ (please don’t tell pork that I imply that this is a bad thing) whereas an all chicken stock tends to  lack the requisite richness.  Chicken stock with a ham bone or smoked pork hock is a great combo also.
  2. Beans are a must here as well and I recommend dried Cannellini beans.  Soak the beans in water for 8 to 24 hours then strain.  Now simmer the beans in the previously mentioned stock – enough to cover the beans for the duration of cooking – which will be about a half hour.  You may need to top up the stock along the way as the beans are basically behaving like little edible sponges.  It can’t hurt to cook the beans with a bay leaf, some herbs, and/or a nice piece of smoked piggy.  Strain the beans when soft but intact and reserve the cooking liquid.  Puree some of your beans with some of the reserved cooking stock to really ramp up the soup’s texture.  You can turn a delicate starter into a hearty main with this puree.
  3. The vegetable component, while usually leftover odds and ends,  can be any combination of onion, celery, leeks, carrots, fennel, parsnips, turnips, or peppers (please, omit peppers).  Use as many or as little veggies as you like.  Hearty greens are integral to my Minestone and I prefer Cavolo Nero or Tuscan Chard if you can find it.  Spinach, kale, or Swiss chard are all perfectly acceptable substitutions.  Diced tomatoes, either fresh or canned, are a MUST.  Sweat the veggies in olive oil or pork (bacon or other) fat, while the greens are best simmered in the broth for at least a half  hour.   I add the diced tomato near the end so as to benefit from their texture and slight acidity.
  4. Pasta.  Any noodle will do.  Some people may deem the pasta redundant in the face of the beans and the inevitable garnish of a hunk of good bread, but I say why let the Greek’s have all the fun with the triple starch?  I love to wrap spaghettini in a dish cloth and break it along the corner of the table delivering short but random bits.  The pasta should be added when the soup is at a simmer 10 to 12 minutes before serving.
  5. Lastly but perhaps most importantly, Cheese.  Use any good, old, hard Italian style cheese – Parm, Romano, Pecorino, Crotonese – all good.  Grated cheese should only be added at the end as a garnish.  Cheese in a simmering broth is just begging to split and gloop and stick and get chewy and squeaky and horrible.  HOWEVER. There is a trick.  If you grate your cheese from a chunk (as you should, but I’m not here to judge or chastise)SAVE THE RIND. Two or three hunks (new culinary measurement) of Parmesan rind in the soup gives the broth a certain nondescript richness that I think makes the soup.  The rinds can simmer for hours and be removed as solid pieces, leaving behind all the flavour but none of the telltale texture.

So, there’s some background and some theory.  Here’s a loose recipe that will feed the family and hopefully leave some good leftover snacking.

4 litres chicken/pork/beef stock

2 cups cannellini beans – soaked overnight

1 pork hock

1/2 onion

1 carrot, 2 ribs celery, 1 leek, 1/2 bulb fennel, 3 strips bacon, or any combination of – finely diced

3 tbsp olive oil

1 cup white wine

1 pound hearty greens – preferably a Swiss or Tuscan chard, but spinach will do

1 tbsp each chopped fresh thyme, rosemary, and parsley

3 ounces (100 gr) pasta

2 cups diced tomatoes

Parmesan rinds or a few one inch square chunks of Parmesan or other hard Italian cheese

salt, pepper, and butter – to taste

Method…
In roughly half of the chicken stock, simmer the beans, hock, and 1/2 onion until cooked.  Strain.  Reserve cooking liquid and ‘flake’ ham hock meat.  Add the meat to the beans.  In a large soup pot, sweat the veggies and bacon in the olive oil for about 5 minutes.

Add the remaining chicken stock, wine,  greens, herbs, parmesan, and half of the tomatoes.  Simmer for about an hour.

Add the pasta and the beans and continue to cook for 10 to 15 minutes.  Add the remaining tomatoes and some bean puree if you have chosen to make it.  Season with salt, pepper, and butter (that’s right, butter is a seasoning now) and serve with crusty bread and a healthy dose of vino.

Helpful hint – this generally gets 10% better every time you re-heat it. Chow.