Minestrone, A Wistful Pup and Letting Go of Summer

There is an old Italian saying O mangi questa minestra o salti dalla finestra. That roughly translates to “Eat the soup or jump out of the window”–an exclamation for those times when inaction is off the table and you just have to do something–anything. Take it or leave it.

I don’t know about you but, for me, fall is a beautiful transitional season that sometimes leaves me at loose ends. I know I can’t hang onto the lazy days of summer forever. And, yet…

Even my Juliet seems wistful about the changing seasons this year. Increasingly, the melancholy little pup spends her days seeking out the dwindling rays of summer sunlight filtering through the windows in her favorite rooms. (Fortunately, I can lift her mood with her favorite pumpkin treats.)

So, this week I’ve vowed to shake off my end-of-summer lethargy. I need to do something interesting to embrace the new season. Some serious fall cooking comes to mind. What better way to accept the end of summer than by embracing fall’s distinct flavors?

But, what to make?

While I may not be ready for anything as fall-radical as pumpkin latte, these increasingly chilly late afternoons and nights have put me in the mood for a rich, hearty bowl of Italian soup.

One of my cooking heroes, Marcella Hazan, once wrote of Italian soups: “The one common link Italian soups have, the single distinguishing feature, is their substantiality. Some may be lighter than others; some may be thin; some thick. In some soups, the beans or the potatoes may be pureed through a food mill. In no soup, however, is the texture, consistency, weight–the physical identity of the ingredients–wholly obliterated. There are no food processor soups, no cream-of-anything soups in the Italian repertory.” (From Hazan’s Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking.)

So, I’m with Marcella. No wimpy cream soup for me! Not now. I’m making a hearty minestrone.

Minestrone is one of the cornerstones of Italian cooking. Originally, minestrone was a thick vegetable soup made up of a hodgepodge of leftovers–a cucina povera (poor kitchen) dish with rustic and rural roots. There was no fixed-recipe. If you had a leftover, it went into the ever-changing soup.

Later, when more fresh vegetables were available (including tomatoes and potatoes from The New World), Italian cooks turned minestrone into a splendid stand-alone soup rich in fresh vegetables, herbs, beans, and pasta.

There are lots of minestrone recipes out there. This, I think, is a particularly good one but feel free to make it your own.

Eat this soup.  No need to jump out of any windows.

Happy fall.

Minestrone.

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Ingredients

• 2 T. olive oil
• 1 medium onion (chopped)
• 1/4 C. fennel bulbs (diced)
• 2 T. garlic (minced)
• 1 C. thinly-sliced green cabbage
• 1 t. fennel seeds
• 1 t. fresh rosemary (minced) optional
• 1 t. fresh thyme (minced) or 1/2 t. dried
• 7 C. water or vegetable stock (I used vegetable stock)
• 1 15-oz. can chopped fire-roasted tomatoes or equivalent fresh Roma tomatoes
• 1 can V-8 juice
• 1 15-oz can garbanzo beans (drained) or equivalent freshly cooked garbanzos
• 1 15-oz can cannellini beans(drained) or equivalent freshly cooked white beans (I used Rancho Gordo Marcella beans)
• 1 medium russet potato cut into 1/2 inch cubes
• 1/2 C. celery (chopped)
• 1/2 C. carrots (chopped)
• 1/2 C. zucchini (chopped)
• 2 T. tomato paste
• 1/4 C. soy sauce (or to taste)
• 1 T. balsamic vinegar
• 1/2 C. elbow pasta or rotini
• 2 T. Italian parsley (minced)
• 1 T. basil (fresh-minced)
• 2 t. oregano (fresh-minced) or 1 t. dry
• 1 t. sea salt (or to taste)
• 1/2 t. black pepper (ground to taste)
• Shredded Parmesan (for garnish)
• Basil (chopped- for garnish)
• Basil Pesto (for garnish)

Instructions

1. Heat olive oil in a large pot. Add onion, diced fennel, garlic, cabbage, fennel seed, thyme and rosemary (optional). Cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally as you cook.
2. Add water or broth, tomatoes, V8 juice, beans, potato, celery, carrot, zucchini, and cook for about 25 minutes until the vegetables are soft. Stir occasionally.
3. Add tomato paste, soy sauce, balsamic vinegar, pasta and herbs and cook for an additional 10 minutes until the pasta is done.
4. Garnish with shredded parmesan cheese and chopped fresh basil. Just before serving, spoon a dollop of basil pesto on top of each serving of soup. Let your guests stir the pesto into their soup.

Notes

Because this soup contains pasta, it will thicken quite a bit when refrigerated. You can add additonal vegetable broth or water to thin the soup.

Nutrition

Calories

3022 cal

Fat

85 g

Carbs

292 g

Protein

60 g

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7.8.1.2

157

https://bluecayenne.com/minestrone-a-wistful-pup-and-letting-go-of-summer

This recipe is loosely adapted from one that appeared in the 2007 cookbook Vegan Fusion. That cookbook is available here.