For Italians, lunch is the time they spend at a table with loved ones: family and friends. They eat slowly and traditionally make several meal changes.
Minestrone soup is a classic Italian dish, one of the most common. Ideally, it should be very thick and rich. It is prepared from vegetables, to which pasta or rice is sometimes added.
About minestrone
Do you think that since the soup is traditional, there must be a certain recipe for its preparation? And here it is not true. Minestrone - seasonal soup. In the recipe for this first dish, much depends on the imagination of the cook and the preferences of residents of various regions of Italy, therefore there are as many recipes as people cook it.
You should not ask whether it is possible to add some vegetable to this soup, if you want, add, this is a matter of your taste. Italians are very fond of adding tomatoes to the minestrone soup. They, of course, can cook it without them. Then it is called "white." In general, when preparing this soup, there is only one main condition: there must be at least ten kinds of vegetables.
Typically, in a traditional recipe, vegetables are cut and cooked until cooked. Then half of them are crushed in a blender, making mashed potatoes, which are then sent back to the minestrone soup.
What is most important in preparing this dish?
Italians have a few key secrets to cooking.
The first is broth, the most important component of the soup. It should be saturated, thick and fat. Italians usually use vegetable, less often meat broth. Most often it is cooked from pancetta or ham on bones with the addition of grape wine and spices.
Fry vegetables slowly and gradually over low heat with olive oil. Most often, Italians take onions, garlic, celery, fennel and carrots. They also use pumpkin and zucchini. Only slowly roasting vegetables, you can cook a fragrant rich minestrone soup.
The second is seasonality. To prepare food, Italians use only those vegetables that they can currently find on the local market.
Cooking Minestrone Soup
Ingredients:
- potatoes - 1 pc.,
- carrots - 1 pc.,
- celery stick,
- onion - 1 pc.,
- canned beans - one medium can,
- a handful of pasta,
- two slices of ham,
- frozen peas - half a cup,
- olive oil - one tbsp. l.,
- Parmesan - one tbsp. l.,
- liter of broth.
Cooking Instructions:
Chop carrots, onions and celery very finely. Peel the zucchini, cut off the ends, chop into small cubes.
Cut the bacon into thin strips. Lightly sauté it. Add the onions, stirring constantly, fry for another four minutes until golden brown. Next, put celery and carrots, mix, continue cooking. Five minutes later, add the beans and zucchini. After stirring, cook for another four minutes.
Sprinkle tomatoes with boiling water, then carefully remove the skin, cut into 4 parts and remove the seeds. Finely chop the pulp. Add it to a pan with vegetables and bacon. If desired, you can gently pour the wine. Mix everything thoroughly, bring to a boil, simmer over low heat without a lid for about 20 minutes.
Cut the potatoes into small cubes. Pour 2 liters of water into the pan. Put on fire, salt, bring to a boil.
Dip the potatoes and pasta, cook until half cooked. Depending on the type of pasta you use, this should take about 10 minutes.
Gently transfer the vegetable mixture from the pan into a saucepan with pasta and potatoes. Salt to taste. Stir and let it simmer.
Pour in the broth and bring to a boil.
Add the peas and beans and cook for another ten minutes.
Pour in olive oil two to three minutes before cooking. Shuffle. Cover, remove from heat.
Italian minestrone soup is ready. Pour it into plates and sprinkle with cheese, ideally grated parmesan. Serve with puzi toast. Bon Appetit!