Minestrone

Monday November 12

Or, as the Department of Redundancy Department wanted us to say, "a big minestrone soup" (they've been so full of themselves since that Napas with Napa and Napa thing).

The soup was inspired by a basket of fresh cranberry beans we bought from the same farmer at Findlay Market who had sold them to us in the spring. The pods were a little crispier, but the beans inside were nice and tender.

We also wanted to use some of the moth-chomped but otherwise perfectly good cabbage sprouts and just-on-the-edge tomatoes we still had in the garden. The perfect recipe, then, was a minestrone. This one is based on Marcella Hazan's Minestrone di Romagna, though we simmered the vegetables according to their tenderness, not all at the beginning and then boiled for three hours, the way she does it. I have no idea what zucchini that had been sautéed and then boiled for three hours might look like - probably nothing.

So, in a large soup pot cook the following on low heat in a combination of butter and oil, for about 2-3 minutes each while chopping the next ingredient:
2 sliced onions
2 chopped carrots
a chopped stick of celery.
Then add a cup or more of chicken broth and enough water to bring things to a good level, so that everything is covered and can float a bit.
Add a cup or so of cranberry beans and however much shredded cabbage you have.
Cook these until close to tender
Add 4 or so boiling potatoes in small cubes
Throw in a cup or more of finely-chopped or puréed tomatoes

The whole thing simmers for three hours or so. All you need to do is stir occasionally.
In the last half-hour, add a chopped zucchino
and salt and pepper to taste.
Serve topped with grated parmesan or romano cheese.

There were two bowls for each of us, and a couple of bowls left over for later - minestrone is one of those things that's even better as a leftover.