Italian Minestrone Soup
A chunky vegetable soup made with fresh, seasonal produce, plenty of olive oil and dressed up with parmesan cheese, if desired.
Ingredients
- 3 zucchini medium
- 2 stalks celery
- 4 carrots
- 1 bulb fennel large
- 1/4 head savoy cabbage or any other type of cabbage
- 7-8 cups spinach, swiss chard, kale, or combo of them (roughly 250 g)
- 3 potatoes medium-large
- 2 leeks or 1 large red or yellow onion
- 1/2 cup good olive oil
- 2 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
- 1 Tbsp salt
- pepper to taste
Instructions
- Clean all the vegetables very well.
- Peel the carrots and remove ends, sad or discolored leaves and parts.
- Cut the zucchini, celery, carrots, fennel, potatoes and onion (if using) into small chunks, more or less the same size.
- Slice the leafy greens, cabbage and leeks (if using).
- Mix all the vegetables together.
- Heat the oil in a large pot over medium heat. It may seem like a lot of oil but this is what makes the soup really delicious.
- Add the cut mixed vegetables, salt and pepper, mix well and saute for about 10 minutes, stirring every minute or two so all the vegetables get a chance to brown ever so slightly on the bottom of the pan.
- Add water (or stock if you prefer) just to cover the vegetables and cook over low heat for 15-25 minutes, just until all the vegetables are fork tender (cooking time will vary depending on how finely your vegetables are cut). If you see the soup is too thick, just add a bit of water. Season with salt and add the apple cider vinegar.
Notes
Notes and Tips:
- The amount of seasoning and oil is for the whole batch of chopped vegetables. If you are cooking only half and freezing the rest, adjust accordingly.
- Use this recipe as a “clean out the refrigerator recipe” meaning if you have half a pepper, one zucchini, four carrots, a bunch of spinach, 2 onions and 3 potatoes you have a perfectly lovely vegetable soup in the making. Simply adjudge the water to just cover the vegetables in step 8 and ecco fatto - it’s all set!
- Try puréeing the soup for a creamy version. Two of my kids prefer it puréed so I usually leave half of it chunky and purée the other half to satisfy everyone. Serve with croutons in this case (also a great food option for weaning babies).
- Feel free to add more veggies to the mix but you may need to increase the liquid.
- Add one 14 ounce can of cannellini beans or chickpeas at the end when all the veggies are cooked through to add a vegetarian protein. Heat just until the beans are warmed through.
- Add ½-¾ cup small pasta or broken spaghetti at the end and cook for 8 minutes or until the pasta is cooked al dente (this is popular with my kids). You may need to add slightly more liquid if you do this. If you are adding pasta to pureed soup, cook it separately, as you would pasta, and add it already cooked to the pureed soup.
- Add ¾-1 cup cooked rice at the end.
- Since I live in Tuscany good extra virgin olive oil is very accessible and affordable so I use the best possible. If this is not the case for you, just do the best you can based on accessibility and price of the oil. Your soup will still be delicious if you can only use a basic olive oil instead of an extra virgin olive oil.
- If you freeze the cut veggies or the soup be sure to date it and consume it within three months.
- Keep in mind this is a general recipe in which any vegetable can be cut out, exchanged or doubled if you like, just add enough water to cover the vegetables in step 8.
- Add 1 cup of chopped green beans or yellow squash instead of fennel for a summer minestrone.
- Add 1 cup freshly shelled peas and ½ cup chopped asparagus for a spring minestrone. I prefer to add the peas and asparagus in the last 10 minutes of cooking so they don’t get overcooked.
- Add a couple of chopped cherry tomatoes to the mix.
- Substitute broccoli cut into very small pieces for the cabbage or add it in with the cabbage.
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!