Classic Minestrone
The famous Italian vegetable soup is worth the wait.
by Erin Henderson
I first travelled to Italy in 2009. I can still remember trying “real” minestrone. I was utterly blown away by the purity of taste and intense flavour from such simple ingredients and straight forward preparation.
I came home and tinkered with the recipe again and again, until I got it the way I wanted it. Marcella Hazan helped quite a bit (her book, The Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking, not the actual person), and Joy of Cooking was a good resource, as well.
By nature, I'm not a patient person. But, unfortunately, it would appear patience is the most crucial ingredient to making this soup deeply delicious. To wait out the long, slow simmer and sporadic addition of vegetables, you will be rewarded with a minestrone that is thick and comforting with layers of eye-rolling flavour. If you are organized enough, and can get some satisfaction from the tease of waiting a day, all the better.
Classic Minestrone
Makes: About 3 litres
Chef level: Easy
- ¼ salted butter
- 3 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1 cup red onion, diced
- 2 cups celery, finely chopped
- 1 cup carrot, finely chopped
- 1 Russet potato, cubed
- Salt and pepper, to taste
- 2 Tbsp tomato paste
- 1 Tbsp miso (trust me, but don't tell the Italians)
- 1 cup dry white wine
- 1 dried chile de árbol, left whole, optional (this will give just the subtlest wink of heat)
- 8 cups vegetable or chicken stock (I like to use the bean stock from this recipe if I have it)
- Good sized parmesan cheese rind
- 1 small zucchini, diced
- 2 540ml cans of cannellini beans, drained
- 2 cups green beans, sliced about 1 cm long
- 142 g baby spinach
- 1 Tbsp Balsamic vinegar
- Into a large pot, add the olive oil and onion and warm over medium heat. Allow the onion to cook gently until soft and translucent, not brown or crispy.
- Add in celery and allow to gently soften for about 2-3 minutes, then add in carrot and cook for another 2-3 minutes.
- Add in potato and cook until softened, another 2-3 minutes.
- Season with salt and pepper and pour in wine, scraping any bits from the bottom of the pot (but there shouldn’t be a lot – the vegetables should have softened and released some liquid while cooking gently.)
- Stir in tomato and miso pastes.
- Pour in stock, adding the optional Aleppo pepper if using, and the Parm rind. Bring to a boil and immediately reduce the heat to low, allowing the mixture to gently bubble for the next 2-3 hours, the soup will thicken slightly.
- Add in the white beans, green beans, and zucchini, and gently cook for another hour until the beans have softened and the zucchini nearly collapsing.
- Add in baby spinach in handfuls, stirring to incorporate and wilt in the hot broth.
- Remove the arbol chili and parmesan rind, and stir in the Balsamic vinegar.
- Serve with a drizzle of olive oil and grated Parmesan.
Wine Pairing:
Sangiovese, the red grape of Tuscany, is the classic pairing for this tomato-based soup. Look for a lighter bodied, juicier style such as Rosso di Montalcino, a younger and fresher version of its brooding big brother, Brunello.
