Anyone who knows me or has eaten in my restaurants or reads my cookbooks probably knows how much I love vegetable soup. After all, I grew up in a small house with a big garden, the harvest from which helped my mother and grandmother feed our family of six every day. Often, that meant adding generous bowlfuls of freshly cut-up vegetables into a big pot simmering away on our stovetop.
We lived in Austria, not far from the Italian border. So it’s not surprising that one of my favorite home-cooked meals featured some version or other of the classic Italian soup called minestrone. And I say “some version or other”
for a good reason. The word “minestrone” literally means “that which is served,” meaning that the soup is really whatever results from what a home cook might find in the garden, the pantry or the refrigerator. In other words, minestrone can vary greatly, not only with the seasons but with the personality and style of the person cooking it, as well as with the occasion itself. Every home and restaurant cook has his or her own version, and I know of many cooks — myself included — who almost never make minestrone exactly the same way twice.
So I’d like to offer you a recipe for the version of the soup that I think works perfectly in late summer. It abounds with some of the produce you’re likely to find in farmers markets or pick from your own vegetable garden, including fresh shell beans such as kidney beans, green beans and yellow wax beans.
But I’d like to emphasize that you should feel free to follow this recipe only as a basic blueprint. You can add diced zucchini or other thin-skinned summer squash, for example, if that’s what you have a bounty of in your garden, substituting them for the fresh beans if you like. Or add more tomatoes for a brighter-red, sweeter-tasting soup, or use yellow onion instead of the leek. Just be sure to start cooking firmer-textured vegetables earlier and add quick-cooking ones later in the process, so everything will be cooked to the right tender-but-firm consistency. You can also feel free to leave out the few slices of prosciutto, which I add for the hint of rich, meaty flavor they contribute, if you’d like a vegetarian soup.
Whatever selections you include, you’ll find this yields a robust soup so satisfying that you could make a meal of it, which is why I also include instructions for making Parmesan-topped, oven-baked toasts to serve alongside. So please try your own version of minestrone soon, and enjoy the best of the season.
HEARTY VEGETABLE MINESTRONE WITH PARMESAN TOASTS
Serves 6
For the minestrone:
5 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus extra for seasoning and serving
1 1/2 large leeks, white and pale-green parts only, thoroughly rinsed and cut crosswise into thin slices
1 large fennel bulb, tops trimmed and reserved for garnish, bulb coarsely chopped
4 thin slices prosciutto, coarsely chopped (optional)
2 stalks celery, diced
1/2 cup shelled fresh kidney beans or other fresh shell beans
1 large tomato, seeded and diced
2 rounded teaspoons minced garlic
1 small sprig fresh rosemary, cut in half
2 quarts good-quality canned vegetable stock or chicken stock
2 cups good-quality canned tomato sauce
1 cup diced firm, mild-tasting mushrooms such as shimeji, trumpet, cremini or regular cultivated mushrooms
Kosher salt
2/3 cup uncooked small dried pasta tubes, such as elbow macaroni or tubetti
1/2 cup chopped green beans, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1/2 cup chopped yellow wax beans, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1 tablespoon honey
Freshly ground black pepper
3 large sprigs fresh basil, plus extra small sprigs for garnish
For the Parmesan toasts:
6 thin slices whole-grain bread
3/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese, plus extra for serving
Extra-virgin olive oil, for drizzling
Directions:
For the minestrone, heat the olive oil in a medium-sized pot over medium heat. Add the leeks and fennel, and saute, stirring frequently, until they just begin to soften, about 5 minutes. Add the prosciutto, celery, kidney beans, tomato, garlic and
half the rosemary. Saute 5 minutes longer. Stir in the stock, tomato sauce and mushrooms. Bring to a simmer.
Meanwhile, in another pot, bring salted water to a boil over high heat. Add the pasta, and cook until al dente, tender but still slightly chewy, following the manufacturer’s suggested cooking time, then drain.
While the soup continues cooking, make the Parmesan Toasts. Heat the oven to 450 degrees. Place the bread slices on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Top with the Parmesan, and drizzle with olive oil. Bake until the bread is well toasted and the cheese has melted and browned, about 10 minutes.
Add the green and yellow beans to the soup. Season with salt. Stir in the honey. Continue simmering until the vegetables are tender-crisp, about 30 minutes total simmering time. Stir in the drained pasta. Season with pepper. Add the basil and remaining rosemary piece. Drizzle generously with olive oil.
Reduce the heat to very low, and simmer for a few minutes more. Remove the herb sprigs. Ladle the soup into heated bowls, and garnish with fresh basil sprigs or other herb blossoms. Drizzle with olive oil. Serve with Parmesan toasts.