spring minestrone
Cook
Total
Yield 4
Before making the soup, Amanda made a broth from veggie scraps she had in her fridge. This is always a good practice, to save your scraps to make veggie broth which you can always have on hand. Amanda used the following. The soup also calls for pastina. This is teeny tiny pasta that is specifically made to add to soups. Some, like quadretti, are made with egg. Others, like farfalline, are not. But you want the tiny soup pasta, not big pasta. And feel free to leave out the parmigiana if you'd like the vegan version.
Ingredients
- For the Minestrone:
- 2-3 carrots
- 2 celery stalks
- 1 onion
- 4 small zucchine romanesche
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 1 bunch Swiss chard- stems removed from leaves
- 1 kg fresh fava pods, remove beans from pods, and skins from beans
- Veggie broth (see recipe below)
- Parmigiano rind
- Parmigiano Reggiano
- 1 cup Small pasta of your choice, quadretti, farfalline etc.
Instructions
- Cut carrots, celery, onion, zucchini and Swiss chard stems into very small dice. Pour olive oil into pot large enough to hold the broth later. Saute the vegetables over low heat, adding salt to flavor the soup base and to draw out the liquid from the vegetables. Cook until just softened, about 15 minutes.
- Add broth, as well as water as needed. Sophie added an additional 2 cups of water, as well as a piece of the rind from the Parmigiano for extra flavor.
- Bring soup to a boil and add salt to taste, reduce flame to a simmer. Cook for about 15 minutes.
- In the meantime cook the pasta in a separate pot of boiling, salted water.
- In another small pot, cook the fave beans, for just 2 minutes, then plunge them into ice water to stop cooking and so that they remain green and vibrant. Set aside.
- Cut the Swiss chard leaves into 1/2 inch ribbons and just before serving. Turn off the flame after one minute.
- To serve:
- Plate some pasta and pour soup over. Top with fave beans.
- Top with grated Parmigiano, you can add fresh herbs of your choice for extra flavor (dill or basil)
Recipe by Elizabeth Minchilli at https://www.elizabethminchilli.com/2017/04/spring-minestrone/