Post by wilderness on Jan 17, 2017 10:23:27 GMT -5
Just Enough Minestrone
So much cooking, so many leftovers. It's winter and six more inches of snow are coming tomorrow, so it was time for Minestrone; a clean-out-the-fridge soup from before there were fridges. Another dish with no recipe to speak of, basically it's a vegetable soup made with whatever is in season, or in the cupboard; beans, zucchini, cabbage, etc. Mine never tastes the same way twice, I'm not sure it should.
When making 'soup-for-one' I try to end up with a quart of broth. The hardest part of making minestrone is know when to STOP putting things in. This is where using the appropriate size pot helps you. When I was cooking for a household I kept a plastic Tupperware container in the freezer to which I would toss all the leftover vegetables from dinner plates. These days it is just a gallon sized freezer bag.
Today's soup contained corn from Shepherd's pie, tomatoes and onions from the spaghetti dish, a small chunk of stewed Beef Shin, some leftover fresh green beans, carrots and cabbage from the Boiled Dinner all tossed in with a can of diced tomatoes, chopped parsley and 3 cups of water. I was very disappointed not to find room for a can of cannellini, however tomorrow when I reheat what's left I will toss in the beans. For your own Minestrone, start with 2 cups of water and any canned items, cannelini beans or tomatoes, then start cleaning the fridge, open a few more cans, or chop up a few more vegetables. Stop when you have about a quart and a half of soup. Simmer it for at least 20-25 minutes. The vegetables will start to break down, get soft and merge. Some of the water will evaporate, making the soup thicker. Feel free to add more water if you think it needs it (the broth is my favorite part), but don't season it until after it has simmered. The taste will have changed COMPLETELY, the flavors will comingle and any seasonings from the leftovers will have merged with the broth.
Add-ins, most Minestrone recipes will include a pasta, this is not mandatory, but nice. However if I toss them directly into the soup they will absorb some of my lovely broth (which can be nice too) and swell and get mushy. Instead I like to boil up a ¼ to ½ cup of small shells, broken spaghetti, orzos, etc... and then slide some into the bowl before I add the soup.
Top with grated Parmesan, the good stuff, the stuff that costs more than you think it should. A small block of good Parmesan will keep for ages and adds life to your food. Don't wrap it in plastic wrap. I keep all my good cheeses in a small food storage container, and all the small bits and rinds gather there for adding into soups and sauce. Take out the block of Parmesan and grate off what you need.
For topping a soup or an egg, I use a steak knife to scrape off about a teaspoon. If you don't have good dry aged cheese for this part, skip it. You will only ruin a nice soup with something lesser. That's it, now you have soup.
So much cooking, so many leftovers. It's winter and six more inches of snow are coming tomorrow, so it was time for Minestrone; a clean-out-the-fridge soup from before there were fridges. Another dish with no recipe to speak of, basically it's a vegetable soup made with whatever is in season, or in the cupboard; beans, zucchini, cabbage, etc. Mine never tastes the same way twice, I'm not sure it should.
When making 'soup-for-one' I try to end up with a quart of broth. The hardest part of making minestrone is know when to STOP putting things in. This is where using the appropriate size pot helps you. When I was cooking for a household I kept a plastic Tupperware container in the freezer to which I would toss all the leftover vegetables from dinner plates. These days it is just a gallon sized freezer bag.
Today's soup contained corn from Shepherd's pie, tomatoes and onions from the spaghetti dish, a small chunk of stewed Beef Shin, some leftover fresh green beans, carrots and cabbage from the Boiled Dinner all tossed in with a can of diced tomatoes, chopped parsley and 3 cups of water. I was very disappointed not to find room for a can of cannellini, however tomorrow when I reheat what's left I will toss in the beans. For your own Minestrone, start with 2 cups of water and any canned items, cannelini beans or tomatoes, then start cleaning the fridge, open a few more cans, or chop up a few more vegetables. Stop when you have about a quart and a half of soup. Simmer it for at least 20-25 minutes. The vegetables will start to break down, get soft and merge. Some of the water will evaporate, making the soup thicker. Feel free to add more water if you think it needs it (the broth is my favorite part), but don't season it until after it has simmered. The taste will have changed COMPLETELY, the flavors will comingle and any seasonings from the leftovers will have merged with the broth.
Add-ins, most Minestrone recipes will include a pasta, this is not mandatory, but nice. However if I toss them directly into the soup they will absorb some of my lovely broth (which can be nice too) and swell and get mushy. Instead I like to boil up a ¼ to ½ cup of small shells, broken spaghetti, orzos, etc... and then slide some into the bowl before I add the soup.
Top with grated Parmesan, the good stuff, the stuff that costs more than you think it should. A small block of good Parmesan will keep for ages and adds life to your food. Don't wrap it in plastic wrap. I keep all my good cheeses in a small food storage container, and all the small bits and rinds gather there for adding into soups and sauce. Take out the block of Parmesan and grate off what you need.
For topping a soup or an egg, I use a steak knife to scrape off about a teaspoon. If you don't have good dry aged cheese for this part, skip it. You will only ruin a nice soup with something lesser. That's it, now you have soup.
