How to cook the perfect minestrone soup? With love from Italy: cooking an Italian hodgepodge

Cooking secrets

April 07, 2016

Minestrone: we are preparing the Italian riddle by the rules

Italians love the thick and rich minestrone soup, which is the most popular dish in Italy - like borscht. Interestingly, minestrone, translated from Italian, means “big soup” or “soup”, since it includes a huge number of very different ingredients. By tradition, it is cooked in a large saucepan, and then the whole family is invited to the table. Children, parents, grandparents are noisy and fun tasting tasty dish, enjoy life and enjoy communication. Probably it is not by chance that minestrone is called the soup of long-livers, because a good mood at the table contributes to longevity.

Minestrone is boiled from seasonal vegetables that can be found on the market at this particular time of year, so its composition may vary. It turns out that there are no strict recipes for the preparation of minestrone, and each housewife can cook it in his own way. Italians value this universality for its “soup”, which perfectly satisfies hunger and satisfies the refined tastes of gourmets.

How to cook minestrone: choose vegetables

The most suitable period for cooking this dish is the second half of summer and autumn, when the markets and shops are full of vegetables, because vegetables are the main component of minestrone. But this does not mean that you need to abandon this dish in winter and spring. No Italian will ever make such sacrifices! Since minestrone universal dish, you can use any vegetables, however, it does not mean that you can mix them thoughtlessly. If you follow some of the rules adopted in Italian cuisine, the taste of the dish will only benefit.

For summer and autumn e are suitable zucchini, eggplant, bell pepper, green pea, tomatoes, fresh and green beans. Winter and spring soup is boiled with chard beetroot, dry beans, broccoli, white, cauliflower and savoy cabbage. Onions, garlic, carrots and celery Italians add to the dish all year round. However, taking into account Russian conditions, we can make some changes to the recipe of a classic minestrone by adding potatoes, pumpkin, zucchini, corn, asparagus, fennel, spinach, lentils and other seasonal vegetables to our soup. You can add ordinary beets, frozen and canned vegetables to winter soup options, although Italian gourmets are against frozen vegetables. As they say, tastes do not argue!

Some more interesting points. Few Italian chefs use Brussels sprouts and arugula for minestrone - it is believed that they interrupt the taste and aroma of other vegetables and the soup smells only brussels sprouts or arugula. However, if you really love these vegetables - why not add them to the minestrone? Chicory, artichokes and radicchio give the dish a bitter taste, so they are not usually used.

How to cook minestrone: broth, spices and additives

This light soup boiled on vegetable, meat or chicken broth. Italians themselves love broth from pancetta - Italian bacon or ham on the bone. Sometimes a little dry wine is added to the broth for piquancy and refinement of taste.

Spices and seasonings are an essential ingredient of minestrone, because without spices, the soup will lose its raisin. It may be tasty, but it will not be a minestrone. Italians mainly use rosemary, garlic, parsley, basil, thyme, bay leaf, oregano and pesto sauce. For richness, different types of legumes, curly pasta made from durum wheat in the form of butterflies, shells, bows, feathers or spirals and arborio rice, which is usually used for risotto, are added to the soup. Roasted meat and ham make the soup more nourishing and appetizing, and grated cheese gives it a soft and thick texture.

Interestingly, the easy version of the soup has its name - minestrina, as the Italians affectionately call it. This soup, cooked in water or vegetable broth, is very refreshing on a hot day, especially if you serve it chilled. Meat minestrone is more suitable for cold weather, because it warms well and satisfies hunger for a long time.

Despite the fact that Italian chefs adhere to certain rules for the preparation of this dish, historically, the minestrone was a peasant soup, so everything that was at home was added to it. He was a bit like our hodgepodge or okroshka.

There are several secrets of how to cook minestrone to make it tasty and appetizing.

Secret 1. Diced vegetables are dipped in boiling salted water and cooked until ready, and the pan should not be covered with a lid. Water should be 5 cm above the level of vegetables. The finished soup is poured into plates, seasoned with olive oil, allspice and grated cheese. This dietary method of preparation of a minestrone is suitable for those who follow figure.

Secret 2. Vegetables are boiled in the same way as in the first recipe, and then half of them is ground in a blender, and this mashed potatoes are added to the soup. In this case, the vegetables can be fried or not fried - the whole matter of taste.

Secret 3. Minestrone Soup with Roasted olive oil vegetables - more saturated, bright, oily and satisfying. However, vegetables should be fried very slowly, almost stewed - this is how it is recommended in the classic recipe for minestrone soup. However, taking into account the modern rhythm of life, this is not always possible.

Secret 4. Groats, pasta and beans are added to the pan during cooking. In this case, beans and dry peas should be boiled in advance.

Secret 5. The Minestrone is called the soup of the second day, since it is the next day that it acquires a special saturation. The fact is that vegetables give their flavor to broth, and it acquires an appetizing taste that cannot be compared with anything.

Some more Italian subtleties

In Italy, there are many different recipes for classic minestrone - for example, in Milan it is cooked with bacon, sage and parmesan, in some Mediterranean areas - with pepper and eggplant, and in Italy there are rural areas where turnip is the main ingredient of the soup. In Tuscany, cooks must add white beans in minestrone, in Sardinia - chickpeas, and in Liguria, pesto sauce is a mandatory additive. Italian Minestrone always very thick, so you can eat even a single bowl of soup.

Classic Minestrone Soup from Liguria

Try cooking in Liguria to see why Italians are so gentle with this dish. Chop 100 grams of pancetta in small pieces, which can be replaced with brisket or bacon, and fry in a saucepan on a large quantities olive oil. Next, chop any seasonal vegetables, for example, one carrot, celery root, one zucchini, onions and leeks, 200 g of green string beans, and chop beet tops. Add the onion to the pancetta, when it becomes a little golden, put the carrots and celery in the pan. After 10 minutes of stewing, enter all other vegetables, fill with water so that it is higher by 3 fingers, salt and cook for an hour. Pour small figured paste into the pan and cook for 5–6 minutes until al dente - when the paste is ready, but it is not boiled soft, retaining its elasticity and slightly hard core. Some Italian housewives add 2–3 peeled potato tubers with other vegetables, and then just mash them with a spoon. By the way, bacon for this recipe is not a required component. When the minestrone is ready, add 4 tbsp. l pesto sauce and cool before serving - so it will be much tastier!

Genoese Minestrone

Another interesting italian recipe will certainly enjoy your family. This is how minestrone is brewed in Genoa, the capital of Liguria. Take a saucepan with a thick bottom and fry a clove of garlic, diced small carrots and onions in a small amount of olive oil, adding a little fresh rosemary to the aroma.

Next, fill the vegetables with water (about 1.5-2 liters), add 100 g of boiled green beans and diced vegetables - 3 medium-sized potatoes, 50 g of pumpkin, 1 zucchini, 100 g of savoy cabbage, 1 fennel. Mix vegetables with 3-4 finely chopped celery stalks and 1 leek (its white part), add the pasta, salt, pepper and cook until cooked.

Pour the ready soup into plates, add 1 tbsp to each of them. l fresh spinach and grated parmesan, sprinkle with olive oil and enjoy the exquisite taste of minestrone!

Chicken Breast Minestrone

Minestrone with chicken, though not an Italian classic, is very popular in modern European cuisine. This soup is very fond of children, so cook it for your little gourmets.

Boil chicken breast broth with bay leaf, onion, cloves and peppercorns. On one breast, take about 2 liters of water and let the broth boil for about 40 minutes, then strain it and cut the chicken into cubes.

Chop vegetables, too, into cubes or straws - 1 zucchini, 1 carrot, 1 onion, 2 celery roots, and half of the head of cauliflower or broccoli disassemble into florets. In a pan for a few minutes, fry the onion with 2 tbsp. l butter and olive oil, add celery and carrots to it and after 3 minutes - zucchini. When the vegetables are quenched for a few more minutes, put them in the broth along with the pieces of chicken and cook for a quarter of an hour.

Boil 2 tomatoes with boiling water, carefully remove the skin from them, chop finely and add to the soup along with cauliflower, send 100 g of fresh or frozen green peas and 150 g of fine paste to the same place. Boil the minestrone for another 7 minutes until the pasta is ready, season the dish with dry herbs, such as dill, parsley and basil, and let it brew.

Serve fragrant minestrone with fresh herbs, grated parmesan and fresh chopped garlic.

Tomato minestrone in Bolzanski

This soup according to the recipe of the inhabitants of Bolzano is unusually nourishing, appetizing and tasty. 100 g ground beef fry in 1 tbsp. l olive oil with finely chopped onion and 2 cloves of garlic. Add the diced carrots and half the celery root to the minced meat, fry some more and enter 2 tbsp. l tomato paste, and then pour the meat with vegetables 2 liters of broth, add for refinement 1 tbsp. l dry white wine and cook minestrone for 15 minutes. Pour 200 g of any curly pasta into the pan and continue cooking until they are ready. Pour the soup into the plates, decorate with a sprig of basil and sprinkle with grated parmesan.

Minestrone with products from Eat Doma

On the website "Eat at Home!" You will find a recipe from Julia Vysotskaya and many other interesting options for this Italian soup. There are very unusual recipes with scrambled eggs, mushrooms, fish, seafood, bacon, pearl barley, nuts and fruits. And the most delicious will be exactly the minestrone that you have prepared yourself for your beloved family. If you do not have fresh vegetables on hand, you can very easily replace them with frozen vegetable mixes. Cook minestrone more often, because this soup is eaten so quickly!

Italian cuisine is very popular throughout Europe, and many Italian dishes have become classics and an indispensable attribute of the menu of good cafes and restaurants. Beautiful names of dishes, their harmonious refined tasteHowever, it does not go against the culinary habits of many average Europeans - these are just small reasons for the popularity of Italian cuisine. Today we will get acquainted with the dish called Minestrone and learn how to make this wonderful Italian vegetable soup.

Minestrone is one of the most popular Italian dishes, and it has been known in Italy for a long time: for centuries, in the countryside in different parts of the country, it was prepared from seasonal vegetables - this was one of the most everyday dishes, and this soup remains today. The name "minestrone" translates as "big soup" (if literally, then in our opinion it sounds like a "soup") and indicates the main feature of the dish: it is prepared from a variety of ingredients, it is believed real minestrone consists of at least 10 types of vegetables.

That minestrone was one of the most favorite dishes of Leonardo da Vinci.

From the rural cuisine of Italy, the minestrone moved to the national one, but in each region it is cooked in its own way: in Lombardy they put pumpkin and parmesan cheese in it, white beans in Tuscany, chickpeas in Sardinia, fresh peas and pigskin in Milan Liguria - pesto sauce.

We will talk about cooking minestrone at home, and you will be able to surprise home with such a restaurant foreign, but at the same time quite familiar dish, which is prepared from popular products in our country.

Minestrone soup recipes at home

In fact, cooking minestrone is very simple! One the right recipe simply does not exist, so every cook is free to cook it in his own way, only by following general recommendations.

Several rules for the preparation of this minestrone, in addition to the "rule of 10 vegetables":

You can cook the soup both on vegetable (classic) and meat (Italians make such broth on pancetta - Italian ham, or ham on the bone), chicken broth, you can add grape wine to the soup.

You can add any vegetables to the soup, but any legumes must be present, the most delicious minestrone - from seasonal vegetables. Italians most often use carrots, celery, onions, fennel, tomatoes, potatoes, garlic, pumpkin and zucchini for this soup. Italian minestrone is always very thick.

In the classic minestrone put rice or pasta from durum wheat.

The traditional method of cooking minestrone: vegetables until ready, then mash half a blender and mix with whole. It is necessary to roast vegetables on low heat with olive oil - this is what allows to get “the very same taste”.

The best seasonings for minestrone are basil and other greens.

Recipe for Traditional Minestrone

It will take: 2.5 liters of water, 200 g of dried peas, 100 g of bacon and rice, 4 tomatoes, 2 tubers of potato and zucchini, 1 carrot and onion, ½ head of cabbage, 1 can of canned beans or 200-300g dry, 3 tablespoons .l. olive oil, spices to taste (marjoram, basil, oregano, etc.).

How to cook a traditional Minestrone. Cut cabbage into strips, chop zucchini, potatoes, carrots and tomatoes into cubes, cut onion into half rings, fry it with bacon in butter. Bring the water to a boil, put all the vegetables in it, stew over 1-1.5 hours over very low heat, put onions with bacon, washed rice and green peas, boil until these ingredients are ready. Before serving, sprinkle with grated cheese.

Bacon can not add.

Classic minestrone is an excellent soup for those who want to lose weight, because it is nourishing and at the same time low-calorie, because cooked in vegetable broth.

Spicy Minestrone Recipe

It will take: 450g of tomatoes in their own juice, 400g of canned beans, 200g of green beans, 100g of short pasta, 2 carrots, 1 zucchini, a clove of garlic, potato tuber, large celery stalk and onion, ½ tsp. dry rosemary, red hot and black pepper, basil, grated parmesan, olive oil, salt.

How to cook a savory minestrone. Heat a deep frying pan with olive oil, put chopped celery, carrots and onions, pepper with hot and black pepper, season with rosemary, add salt and fry for 5-7 minutes until browning. Knead tomatoes with a fork, put in a frying pan, stew for 1-2 minutes. Dice the zucchini and potatoes into cubes, drain the beans from the beans, rinse them, put all these vegetables into the pan for the rest, stew for 1-2 minutes. Pour into the pan 1.7 liters of water, put everything out of the pan, add chopped green beans, bring to a boil, boil until soft all vegetables. Pasta add to the soup for 10 minutes before it is ready, season the soup with fresh minced basil and garlic before serving, mix and hold the ready soup under the lid for 5 minutes. Pour the grated parmesan into the soup plates.

You can make the taste of this Minestroene even brighter if you add mushrooms.

The recipe for the diet option Minestrone soup

It will take: 2 liters of water, 100 g of asparagus beans (pods), asparagus, broccoli, pumpkin / sweet potatoes, potatoes, celery stalk, leeks, carrots, onions, beans, dry, 2-3 tbsp. olive oil, a pinch of oregano, thyme, basil, marjoram, dill, pepper, salt.

How to cook traditional italian soup Minestrone. Soak the beans in 200 ml of water overnight, then boil in the same water, pour in another 1 l of water, put half of the carrots and onions. Cut all the vegetables into small cubes, take a pan with a thick bottom, pour in oil, heat, put celery, leek and carrots first, stew, then put the sweet potato / pumpkin and potatoes, stew potatoes until half cooked, add 2-3 cm sliced beans. and asparagus, broccoli, disassembled into inflorescences. Put the carrots and onions out of the finished beans, you can chop the carrots and put them into the soup, pour the beans along with the broth to the vegetables, pepper, salt and season with herbs, if necessary, if the soup is too thick, add another 500ml of water, bring to a boil, boil On low heat for 5 minutes, then half of the soup to puree with a blender and pour back into the pan, bring to a boil again and boil for 5 minutes.

You can season minestrone with ham pieces, if you want to make the soup more satisfying.

Italian cuisine is definitely close to Russian, and this is something that all lovers of vegetables will have for lunch or dinner, because it turns out to be incredibly tasty!

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Minestrone - Italian soup with a rich composition.

The national dish consists mainly of vegetables that supply the body with vitamins and energizing. Also added to it and other products that increase the satiety.

A portion of good mood is simply provided, after eating such a soup.

But how to cook it?

Minestrone Soup - General Cooking Principles

Minestrone can be cooked in meat, vegetable, fish broth. All these ingredients may also be present in the soup. Sometimes sausages, bacon, cream, and smoked meats are added, making the dish richer and more appetizing.

What kind of vegetables can you make soup:

Potatoes;

All kinds of cabbage;

Carrot;

Onions of different types;

Squashes;

Green peas, lentils, beans, including chilli;

Celery.

Products are added to the pot raw or pre-fried. Italians for this purpose use only olive oil. Soups are dressed with salt, pepper, Italian herbs, fresh or dried herbs, cream and, of course, parmesan. A wonderful dressing is Pesto sauce, which can be put directly into the pan or directly into the plates when serving at the table.

Recipe 1: Vegetarian Minestrone Soup

For the preparation of vegetarian options will require seasonal vegetables and only half an hour. From the listed amount of products 6 portions will turn out. If there is not any ingredient, then it can be replaced by another one or simply deleted.

Ingredients

300 grams of zucchini (you can use any sort of zucchini);

Bulb;

Big carrot;

200 grams of tomatoes;

200 grams of potatoes;

Garlic clove;

2 Bulgarian peppers;

1.4 liters of water;

Olive oil;

50 grams of fine pasta (vermicelli).

Cooking

1. Cut the onion into small cubes, throw into the frying pan with olive oil and begin to fry.

2. Also dice carrot, send to onions and fry together for 5 minutes.

3. Free the bell pepper from the viscera, cut it into thin strips and also send it to the pan. Cook a couple of minutes.

4. Cut the zucchini into cubes and pour out to the rest of the vegetables. At this stage, you can add some more oil. Fry zucchini to transparency pieces.

5. Pour water into a saucepan, put potatoes cut into small cubes and cook until soft.

6. Remove the skin from the tomatoes, chop finely and shift the pieces into the pan. Fry.

7. We shift the ingredients from the pan to the pan, boil the vegetables together for 5 minutes.

8. And now the secret of rich soup. Shumovka get some vegetables from the pan, about one portion plate and set aside. The remaining vegetables with broth grind blender. Again, combine all, salt, add chopped garlic and put on the stove.

9. Add pasta to boiling soup, boil for a minute, season with spices, herbs and serve.

Recipe 2: Summer Minestrone Soup with Cauliflower Beans

For cooking summer soup minestrone will need any meat broth, preferably not very fat. Suitable chicken, beef. The soup is seasoned with fragrant pesto sauce based on pine nuts.

Ingredients

Bulb;

4 liters of broth;

200 grams of green beans;

150 grams of carrots;

250 grams of white beans (boiled or canned);

4 celery stalks;

Olive oil;

Garlic clove;

Cauliflower head.

For pesto:

Basil bunch;

A handful of pine nuts;

0.07 kg of parmesan;

Garlic clove;

Olive oil.

Cooking

1. Take a saucepan, preferably with a thick bottom and place on the stove. Pour oil.

2. Shred onions with carrots, throw in hot oil. Fry until transparent pieces.

3. Add celery, cut into arbitrary slices, fry with onions and carrots for two minutes.

4. Pour in the broth and let the soup boil.

5. Add the white beans. If used canned foodthen carefully pour the marinade.

6. Following the beans, as soon as it boils, add cabbage, which must be broken beforehand. Large pieces can be simply cut with a knife. Cook for 3 minutes.

7. Green pods cut into pieces of 2-3 cm, send to the pan. At this stage, the minestrone soup can be salted. Boil the soup for another 5 minutes at a very low boil.

8. For the preparation of pesto, mix all the ingredients in a blender, adjust the consistency of the sauce with olive oil.

9. Spill the soup in plates, fill with fragrant sauce, chopped greens.

Recipe 3: Minestrone Soup with Bacon and Tomato Juice

Another cooking option is Italian minestrone soup, this time with bacon, which adds to the dish of satiety. On the basis of this recipe, you can make a spicy version by adding chopped chilli pods to the pan.

Ingredients

400 grams of canned beans;

150 grams of bacon;

2 potatoes;

3 celery stalks;

Bulb;

Oil, salt, spices;

One young zucchini;

Sweet pepper;

300 grams of green peas (fresh, frozen, canned);

Liter of tomato juice;

2 tomatoes;

2 cloves of garlic;

10 basil leaves;

Parmesan for dressing ready soup.

Cooking

1. We wash vegetables, we clean, we clear from cores and we cut into identical cubes. But do not mix, laid out in different bowls.

2. Pour 50 grams of olive oil into the pan, put bacon diced or straw, fry.

3. Add the celery with onions, fry together.

4. Put the tomatoes, ground without skin, and fry for color.

5. Pour in tomato juice, lay out the remaining vegetables and cook for 5 minutes.

6. Add the beans, add boiling water to the desired thickness of the soup, salt and cook all together for 10-15 minutes. Season with minced garlic and finely chopped basil.

7. Spill in plates, sprinkle with grated parmesan.

Recipe 4: Chicken Minestrone Soup

The recipe for wonderful Italian minestrone chicken soup that can easily fit into our menu. Will use chicken breasts, but you can take any other parts.

Ingredients

300 grams of fillet;

70 grams of fine pasta;

350 grams of green peas;

2 tomatoes;

1 squash;

Onion;

Parmesan;

Salt, spices;

Olive oil;

Carrot;

Cooking

1. Boil the fillet in 1.8 liters of water. Then remove, cool and cut into cubes. If there is no time, then you can immediately cut the chicken and boil it in small pieces. Do not forget to remove the foam.

2. Cut all the vegetables into cubes, pre-peel the tomatoes.

3. Fry the onions with carrots, tomatoes and celery in a pan. Then add the zucchini, cook another two minutes and shift to the pan to the chicken. Soup salt.

4. After boiling, pour peas into a saucepan, cook another 2 minutes.

5. Pour the paste, stir. Put the spices, herbs, bring to a boil and immediately turn off. If the paste is large, then boil a few minutes. Give the minestrone soup to stand for 25 minutes.

6. When serving, sprinkle with chopped parmesan.

Recipe 5: Mushroom Minestrone Soup

A variant of Italian minestrone soup with mushrooms can already be considered a classic. Mushrooms can take any: greenhouse, field or forest.

Ingredients

150 grams of fresh mushrooms;

150 grams of green peas;

50 grams of pasta;

2 carrots;

Onion;

2 tomatoes;

300 grams of cabbage (any);

2 eggplant;

Salt, oil;

Pesto and Parmesan sauce for serving.

Cooking

1. In boiling water, throw the diced carrots, cook for 5 minutes.

2. Shred cabbage, send to the carrot. If we use cauliflower or broccoli, then parse the inflorescences.

3. Shred mushrooms, onions, dice eggplants.

4. Fry the mushrooms in the pan for 2 minutes, add the onion, then the eggplants. Fry all together, do not regret the oil.

5. As soon as the cabbage is soft, but not yet boiled soft, add green peas. After boiling his pasta. Cook for 3 minutes.

6. Put the contents of the pan, rubbed tomatoes, salt and cook for another 2 minutes.

7. Dress with spices, herbs, pesto. Let it brew before serving.

Recipe 6: Minestrone Soup with Lentils

To make the broth transparent, lentils for minestrone soup is boiled separately.

Ingredients

80 grams of lentils;

Bulb;

Half a zucchini;

Sweet pepper;

Carrot;

A tomato;

2 potatoes;

Garlic clove;

150 grams of peas;

Greens, oil;

Italian herbs.

Cooking

1. Boil lentils for 15 minutes, drain the water.

2. In a saucepan with a thick bottom, fry the chopped onion, then add the carrots, sweet peppers, simmer together. At the end add grated tomato.

3. Pour into pot 1.5 liter of boiling water.

4. Lay the boiled lentils, diced potatoes. Cook for 10 minutes.

5. Salt and add the sliced zucchini, after boiling add green peas. Cook until fully cooked vegetables.

6. At the end bring the soup to taste, add Italian herbs, chopped garlic, fresh herbs. Served with parmesan cheese, Chechil, pesto or just with sour cream.

Recipe 7: Minestrone Soup in a Pot

Food cooked in the oven is special. And if it is also in pots, it is unusually tasty. Lightweight version of minestrone soup, pleasing with its simplicity. The number of products per eye.

Ingredients

Chicken fillet;

Cauliflower;

Tomato paste;

Bulb;

Tavern;

Green pea;

Carrot;

Olive oil;

Parmesan;

Cooking

1. Fry the onions and carrots in the pan, at the end add the finely chopped zucchini. Stew for two minutes.

2. Chicken fillet cut into cubes.

3. At the bottom of the pots put the roasted vegetables, then chicken. On top of the cauliflower, then fall asleep green peas, so that it fills the voids.

4. We mix tomato paste with broth, salt, put any spices.

5. Fill the pots with broth to the shoulders and send them to the oven for 35 minutes.

6. We take out, we pour Parmesan, again we cover with a lid and give half an hour before serving.

Recipe 8: Minestrone Creamy Soup with Pumpkin and Chickpeas

This is a dish of mood! Bright, light, with individual taste. It is great for the daily diet, regardless of the season.

Ingredients

300 grams of ripe pumpkin;

Carrot;

100 grams of dry chickpea;

2 tomatoes;

150 grams of celery;

Clove of garlic;

Salt pepper;

50 grams of parmesan;

100 grams of cream.

Cooking

1. Soak chickpea for the night, then boil it in a separate saucepan until soft.

2. Clean the pumpkin, carrot and celery, cut into cubes. Fry in hot oil in a pan or immediately in a saucepan. At the end add chopped tomatoes, simmer for 7 minutes.

3. Put in the pan fried vegetables, boiled chickpeas. Add boiling water so that it covers the contents of 3-4 cm. Turn on the heat and cook the soup for 15 minutes after boiling.

4. Add salt, spices, grated parmesan and cream. Cook two more minutes, turn off. Served with fresh herbs.

Parmesan is a great ingredient for minestrone soup. Only 10 grams of cheese added to the plate will make the taste of the dish brighter and more saturated. Therefore, put parmesan without sparing, regardless of the recipe and the incoming ingredients.

Legumes are frequent ingredients in Italian soups. You can use peas and beans in any form. But if canned goods go, then you need to drain the marinade well, rinse the beans cold water. Otherwise, the soup will become cloudy, acquire an unpleasant taste.

Garlic is an ingredient that can change the taste of the soup. If you want to cook a spicy dish, then put the garlic in the already prepared soup and do not boil. You can cook on the basis of the sauce-dressing. If you just need to give easy dish flavor, then garlic can be fried in a pan or lay in a saucepan and boil.

Do you want to cook a minestrone, but absolutely no time? Boil a liter of water (or broth) in a saucepan, add a can canned peas (or frozen), half a jar of corn, sliced tomato and a couple of sausages (or stew, sausage, boiled meat). Salt, pepper, bring to a boil and season with plenty of greens. Only 5 minutes and a full dish is ready!

There are recipes - presentation. The closer to the original, the higher the result. But this is not about minestrone. Classic recipe minestrone is always an essay. Vegetables take what you want! Sweet carrot, pepper or broccoli, potatoes, cabbage, young peas, corn or canned beans, tomatoes, celery or lettuce, leek, fennel, zucchini or pumpkin, spinach, garlic, kindzu, thyme or basil. Choose any vegetables to your liking - this is the basic principle of the Italian minestrone soup. But not only that. You can put pasta, and you can do without them. You can also add bacon. In any variations you will get the minestrone, but only if you strictly adhere to the method of preparation that has been worked out for centuries. That he is a classic recipe for minestrone. Let's try to be like the Italian mistress, who chooses seasonal vegetables on the market, and then makes her own, unique soup. I will share with you the essay that I received. You can repeat it without fear, because it turned out very tasty soup, and you can follow the free method of creating a minestrone.

Ingredients:

Onion - 1 large head (200 grams),
Carrots - 1 large (240 grams),
Celery - 2 stalks,
Sweet pepper - 1 piece (200 grams),
Young squash - 1 piece (350 grams),
Garlic - 2 cloves,
Tomato - 1 hefty (300 grams),
Green peas - 1/3 cup,
Macaroni - 60 grams,
Vegetable broth or water - 1-1.5 liters,
A mixture of dried Provencal herbs - 1 teaspoon,
Salt to taste
Ground pepper (preferably from the mill) - to taste,
Olive oil for roasting vegetables - to taste,
Parmesan cheese for serving - 50 grams

The classic method of cooking minestrone

Minestrone is prepared in two stages. The first is slow roasting of vegetables, in large quantities of olive oil. Our task is not to make the slightest crisp crust on the vegetables, but they can soak in oil and their own juice and soften completely. The process is slow, but very pleasant. Waves of wonderful aromas replace one another, mix up, creating surprisingly tasty combinations. It is important that with such cooking vegetables gently soften, and do not boil, keeping all their flavors and tastes. The second stage - adding broth and cooking, takes much less time.

As for cutting vegetables, there are no special rules here either. You can and neat cubes, but you can and slices. I chose the first option, under the impression from the show with the participation of Italian chef Roberto Pineda. At the end of the recipe I will give a link to the video, in which everything is clear without words.

So, take a large stewpan or stainless steel pot. Pour on the bottom of olive oil - 3-4 spoons. Wash my bow, clean, chop with a small cube, put it in a saucepan, put it on a little heat and let the onions warm up, soak in oil and become transparent.

We clean the carrots, wash them and cut them into small cubes. Put it in the pan, when the onion becomes transparent and gives a delicious smell (about 5-7 minutes). Stir with carrot. And fry another 7 minutes.

Celery washed, cut into cubes.

Cut the sweet pepper, remove the seeds and cut off the white areas, also cut them into cubes. Put the vegetables in the pan, stir, add oil, if it is no longer there (the oil will be absorbed into the vegetables). Stir and cook another 5 minutes.

Young my zucchini wash, scrub the damaged areas of the skin. Cut into cubes. Sent to the pan. Zucchini in the process of frying will give the juice in which the vegetables are slightly extinguished. We leave everything to prepare for another 15-20 minutes.

Potatoes can be added either in the process of cooking, or fry with other vegetables. I like it when the potatoes get really hot, so I cut it into cubes and put it in a saucepan along with zucchini.

So, our vegetables are stewed in the pan for half an hour. I have managed to become soft. But, perhaps, in your case for softening it will take another 10-15 minutes. Do not forget to stir, so that the heating is uniform. This is what vegetables look like in which you can add broth.

When the vegetables are soft, it is time for the second stage - cooking. Fill vegetables with broth. You can, of course, take the water. But with broth much tastier. The amount of broth depends on how thick you want to get the soup. I wanted a thick one, so I took the whole liter. The broth has a bright color because a lot of carrots were cooked in it. Bring to a boil over low heat. Salt, pepper, add a mixture of Provence herbs and crushed garlic clove.

We are left to put in a minestrone tomatoes, peas and pasta.

Tomatoes in Italy are traditionally peeled from the skins. This is done very simply. Tomato sliced on the bottom side crosswise. Placed in a container. Water is boiled in the kettle. And then boiling water is poured on a tomato. 2 minutes you can hold it in the water. And then remove the spoon, so as not to burn yourself. Catching the edges, you can easily separate the skin from the tomatoes. Next, they need to cut into cubes. Those who want to get only an authentic version of the minestrone can free a tomato from seeds and, accordingly, from most of the juice. I left the seeds.

Give the tomatoes to boil in the soup for 10 minutes and add the peas. He cooks very quickly. Just five minutes.

And the final touch - pasta. Usually in minestrone add small pasta - horns, shells. You can take ready. But I decided to more tightly get used to the role of the Italian mistress, so I made the shells myself. What I did was called cavatelli. The easiest and most effective version of homemade pasta. If you want to make one too, here is a simple recipe.

Handmade pasta for minestrone

Ingredients:

1 egg,
100 grams of flour,
1/3 tablespoon of olive oil.

For cooking you will need a regular mat, which is used for rolls.

In a large bowl, mix the egg, flour and butter. Mix with a spoon until all the liquid is absorbed in the flour. Next, we knead hands. Mom, three, flatten and roll the dough until it becomes homogeneous and completely ceases to stick to your hands. If there is a processor, then it is better to entrust the test to it. Ready dough wrap in cellophane and refrigerate for an hour. Next comes the most interesting point - making cavatelli. Tear dough off the size of walnut. We roll out a sausage with a thickness of about 3 millimeters. Knife cut the sausage into cubes. We take the cube, spread it on the mat, with the index finger flatten it, rolling along the mat along. And then we roll up from the edge. And our blank itself rolls up into a neat shell. I managed to capture the whole process on 1 photo. Those who are interested in homemade pasta and understand English, in the end I will give a link to the video, where in fact everything is clear and so, without words.

So, throw our pasta in boiling soup. She cooks for 6-7 minutes. It remains only to try the soup. Add or add to taste. Perhaps add seasoning. Remove the minestrone from the stove and let it stand for at least half an hour.

Serve the minestrone hot on the table, sprinkle with grated parmesan cheese.

Enjoy your meal!

For those who are keen on the kitchen at least me, two videos. Do not be embarrassed that they are in foreign languages, because everything is shown in action. If you want some interesting culinary discoveries, get used to the perception of foreign videos. Extremely useful skill turned out to be. Video - how the Italian chef cooks minestrone soup. It is in Italian, but filmed so clearly that it does not require an understanding of the language.

How to make homemade pasta for minestrone (four witty and simple molding options). In English, but again everything is absolutely clear, because simple manual work is demonstrated.

Soup is a main dish that can be not only satisfying, but also appetizing and even unusual. If you want something new, and the usual recipes are fed up, try making a fragrant minestrone.

What is this dish?

Minestrone is a traditional Italian soup, which is one of the main and most popular dishes of this country's cuisine. It is prepared from vegetables, and, as a rule, seasonal, and therefore acquires a fresh taste and a characteristic bright aroma. Than more ingredients the better will be a part, and the name reflects such diversity, because “minestrone” translates as “big soup”, “soup”.

A variety of vegetables are used for cooking, as well as melons and legumes, for example, beans, tomatoes, peas, pumpkin, asparagus, onions, zucchini and much more. Usually, all the ingredients are cooked until tender, but sometimes fried in olive oil, which is so loved and appreciated by all Italians. Sometimes cereals (especially rice) and pasta are included in the soup. The classic minestrone recipe is a somewhat vague concept, because there are a lot of variations of the dish, and each hostess has her own secrets.

Cooking options

How to cook a delicious minestrone soup? We propose to consider several interesting options.

Option One

Try to cook a delicious light vegetable soup, which will satisfy hunger, but will not cause heaviness in the stomach.

The list of ingredients is as follows:

two bell peppers;
head of red or purple onions;
150 g stem celery;
a small bunch of celery;
two fleshy tomatoes;
carrot;
two garlic cloves;
300-400 g of pumpkin;
2 liters of broth or plain water;
half a cup of olive oil;
salt.

Instruction:

First, you can immediately prepare all the vegetables. Onion after peeling, finely chop or cut into thin half-rings. Peel, chop or chop the garlic in another way. Bulgarian pepper free from seeds and stalks, cut into strips. Tomatoes should be cut into cubes, and celery - rings. It is advisable to grate the carrots or turn them into a thin straw with the help of a knife. Peel pumpkin seeds and chop to make medium sized cubes.
Heat a portion of the butter in a pan. On it, fry the carrot and onion first so that they soften slightly. Then add pepper and pumpkin. After five minutes, add tomatoes and celery, and a minute later add garlic to the rest of the ingredients. Pour in the rest of the oil and simmer the vegetables for just five minutes under the lid.
Bring broth to a boil, move everything into it vegetable stew. When the soup boils, reduce the heat and simmer for ten minutes.
Chop celery greens, add to the soup with salt, after three minutes, remove the pan from the heat.

Option Two

Delicious and nourishing minestrone with beans. For its preparation is required:

150 grams of beans (use white, it is more tender);
three large tomatoes;
100 g of peas (frozen or ready canned);
three garlic cloves;
three or four celery stalks;
white onion;
carrot;
1.5 liters of broth;
a third cup of olive oil;
hl ground rosemary;
a bunch of basil;
salt.

Process description:

If you decide to use raw solid beans, then soak it overnight in cool water, and then cook it until soft (be prepared that it will take a lot of time).
Now get some vegetables. Onions can be cut into thin half-rings or chop. Rub carrots on a large grater (you can cut it into strips). Garlic after pre-cleaning in any convenient way chop. Celery after washing, cut into rings.
Prepare tomato sauce. To do this, dip tomatoes for two or three minutes in hot water or pour boiling water, then remove the skin. Then in a blender with garlic and washed basil turn them into puree.
Pour oil into a thick-bottomed pot when it begins to boil, put onions and carrots, reduce heat and simmer for a couple of minutes. Then add the thawed peas (if you use canned, then it is added at the very end). After three minutes, enter the celery. Cover the pan with a lid, simmer the ingredients on low heat for seven to ten minutes.
Pour in the broth, immediately put in it the cooked boiled or canned beans. After three to five minutes, enter tomato in minestrone spicy sauce and add rosemary.
Under the lid, boil the soup, reduce the heat, salt five minutes later, and after another three minutes, turn off the heat, but do not remove the lid, so that the minestrone is present and does not lose flavor.

Option Three

This recipe involves cooking spicy minestrone.

List of ingredients:

small broccoli;
150 g of celery root;
a bunch of basil (can be replaced with parsley);
rind of one small lemon;
two tsp. lemon juice;
300 g of cauliflower;
70-100 g of pine nuts;
100 g of small pasta;
bulb;
carrot;
2 liters of water;
olive oil;
salt.

Cooking:

Rub carrots, chop onions, fry everything together in oil.
Broccoli and cauliflower cut or hand disassemble into small florets. Celery cut into strips or rings, and chop the greens of basil.
Boil water in a saucepan and boil broccoli, cauliflower and celery into it. When all this becomes soft, in the broth, run the roasted carrots and onions, continue to cook the soup.
After about five minutes, add the zest and lemon juice, chopped basil to the soup. Also enter the pasta.
Fry the pine nuts in a skillet without butter.
Salt the soup, cover with a lid, and after a couple of minutes turn off the fire.
Pour the minestrone into plates, decorate each portion with a handful of nuts.

Tips to make your homemade minestrone even tastier and more aromatic:

The main feature of this Italian dish is its seasonality, so feel free to add any seasonal vegetables and other ingredients, such as eggplants, cabbage, zucchini and so on.
Haste in cooking minestrone - not only not best friendbut also the real enemy. Any Italian cook knows that slowness is the key to a delicious soup, and therefore all ingredients should be cooked and stewed over a small fire. If roasting in olive oil is intended, then it should be slow so that the product absorbs the aroma of the oil, becomes soft and tender.
The thicker the minestrone is, the better (the spoon can stand in it!). And in order to give it a delicate texture, some of the ingredients can be removed from the soup, chopped, and then returned to the dish.

Take a delicious minestrone soup and delight your family with it.