Italian Minestrone

 Italian Minestrone

Minestrone is a hot and brothy soup with fresh vegetables and or legumes typical of Italian cuisine. It start from the base of chopped and fried onions, celery, and carrots to which are added potatoes, tomatoes, cauliflower, and often beans and other vegetables of your choice cut into small and finally boiling water with which they cook together in a pot, giving life to a minestrone or a large vegetable soup! Scented, steaming sometimes soft liquid when the pieces melt. A comforting light and vegetarian goodness indispensable to prepare at home in winter! 

Here is for you the Minestrone recipe with all the illustrated step-by-step photos ranging from the choice of ingredients to cooking make an exquisite vegetable minestrone!

Preparation: 15 minutes         Cooking: 40 minutes.           Serving: 4-6 people

Ingredients:

• 250 grams of white cauliflower (can be switch with broccoli, cabbage, pumpkin, chard)
• 250 grams of fresh green peas, or green beans
• 250 grams of boiled legumes of your choice like white beans, black beans or lentilles
• 2 carrots, diced
• 2 potatoes, diced
• 1 zucchini
• 1 large onion
• 1 stalk of celery
• 2 tomatoes
• extra virgin olive oil
• some salt and pepper
• 2-3 cups of water

Procedures:

1. First of all, wash all the vegetables thoroughly and cut them into 1 cm squares, even the cauliflower into small florets and possibly broccoli. if you are using leafy vegetables, reduce them to medium-sized leaves.

2. Then in a large pot sauté the crushed garlic, chopped onion and celery for 2-3 minutes with extra virgin olive oil then add cauliflower and potatoes and all the vegetables with a harder consistency:

3. Finally let it cook for 5 minutes over low heat. Then add zucchini, green peas, tomatoes, boiled legumes or any other leafy or soft vegetables you have chosen. Add some cups of hot water, cover with a lid and let it simmer for 40 - 50 minutes.

4. Be careful, that the vegetables do not flake but that they remain intact, well colored, and even juicy. cin this way they will also retain all the nutritional properties. If necessary, add more boiling water. Add salt only at the end of the cooking.

5. Serve hot with few drops of extra virgin olive oil. For me i add my plate with a hard bolied egg cut into half. Enjoy and Buon Appetito!