Winter Minestrone
Basically, Minestrone is an Italian vegetable soup, sometimes with a little meat, mostly with beans, a variety of veggies and broth. When cabbage season happens (usually around St. Pat’s Day), this recipe makes a huge pot which we eat for dinner the first night with crusty Italian bread and then for a few weekday lunches after that.
Yes, there is a lot of chop, peel and slice here , but it is a colorful hearty soup that is hard to resist. Cabbage is the quiet star of this soup—cut into rather fine small shreds, it blends into the background surrounded by all the tiny dice vegetables. The surprise is food processing the onion, some celery and some carrot to also create a hearty base.
Choose whatever small pasta you like. I have used rings, ditalini and once, tiny shells.
Makes 6-8 servings.
For the Base:
¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 (4 ounce) link mild Italian sausage, casing removed
1 large onion, cut into chunks
1 celery rib, cut into chunks
1 large carrot, cut into chunks
For the Veggies:
8 ounces green cabbage, finely shredded (about ½ small cabbage)
2 celery ribs, cut into small dice
2 carrots, cut into small dice
1 small zucchini, cut in half lengthwise, then cut again lengthwise, then into thin slices
1 (15-ounce) can cannellini beans, rinsed and drained
1 (14-ounce) can diced tomatoes
2 (6 -8”) springs of fresh rosemary
1 teaspoon kosher salt and about ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
4 cups chicken broth (I use 4 cups of water and 4 teaspoons Better Than Bouillon Chicken Flavor)
1 cup of water ( more up to 2 cups if you want a less thick soup)
1/3-1/2 cup small pasta
Step 1. To make the soup base, place chunky veggies in large food processor bowl, and process until finely chopped. Wait.
Step 2: Heat olive oil in a large 6-8 quart soup pot over medium heat. Tear the sausage into small bits as you put into the oil. Sauté several minutes or until sausage is not pink. Now, add the veggies from the food processor. Combine well and sauté about 6 minutes.
Step 3: Add the other veggies, stirring well after each addition— cabbage, celery, carrots, zucchini, beans, tomatoes and rosemary springs. Season with salt and pepper.
Step 4: Pour in chicken broth and water. Cover; raise heat to high and bring to a full boil. Uncover; lower the heat to a bubbly simmer for 20 minutes. Add the pasta, simmer another 10 minutes. Taste and adjust seasonings with salt and pepper. Remove rosemary stems.
Serve with a wedge of Parmigiano-Romano and a small grater.
Variation: Instead of beans, add raw potato chunks.
Recipe adapted from Quick Minestrone by Giuliano Hazan, printed in the New York Times.
