Vegetable Soup (Minestrone di Verdure)
This is one of my go to recipes on colder autumn and winter days and when I feel like I’ve eaten a bit too much. This vegetable soup is full of potassium, dietary fiber, folate, vitamin A, and vitamin C making it a super healthy dish. The Minestrone di Verdure is a traditional dish in many parts of Italy: in the northern region of Lombardy, minestrone is sometimes made with pasta and winter squash, in Tuscany, cannellini beans and cabbage or kale; while in the coastal city of Genoa in the northwestern region of Liguria, it would be finished with pesto.
In my version I use either the ingredients you’ll find below or whatever I find in the fridge. If you want to add pasta make the soup first and then add the pasta towards the end (usually really thin pasta strings).
Prep Time: 10 Minutes
Cooking Time: 60 Minutes
Ingredients for 4 Portions
Garlic - 1 Clove
Onion - 1
Celery - 1 stick
Carrots - 2
Potatoes - 2
Peas - 100g
Kale - 100g
Cabbage - 50g
Zucchini - 2
Broccoli - 1
Leek - 1
Parsley
Water
Salt and Pepper
Optional: Parmesan to serve
Preparation:
Start preparing the vegetable soup by washing all the vegetables well and chopping them coarsely, the potatoes should also be peeled, the peas shelled, while the parsley should be chopped.
In a very large, tall pot pour a drizzle of oil and sauté the coarsely chopped celery, garlic, carrots and onion over a low flame.
When the onion is browned we add all the chopped vegetables and parsley and let them cook on high heat for about 5 minutes, stirring repeatedly.
Last we add the potatoes and then pour in plenty of water so that all the vegetables are covered.
We salt everything and bring to boil then let it cook on low heat for about 45 minutes.
Once the minestrone is ready it can be eaten as is or it can be blended, resulting in a vegetable puree. If you wish you can add some parmesan when serving it