Menestron

Name: Menestron (Minestrone, Genoese-Style)
Yield: Makes 4 to 6 servings
Cuisine: Italian
Ingredients: 6 ounces/⅔ cup/170 ml Ligurian extravirgin olive oil; ½ cup/60 g fresh peas; 3½ ounces/100 g fresh borlotti or red kidney beans; Crust of wedge of Parmigiano-Reggiano (if available); 1 sprig fresh Italian (flat) parsley, torn into pieces; 2 to 2½ quarts/2 to 2½ liters cold water; A few leaves of borage or spinach, washed; ½ cup/60 g fresh fava beans; 1 baby eggplant, washed, chopped into bite-size pieces; 1 stalk celery, washed, chopped into little bits; 5 ounces/150 g dried pasta, broken into little pieces; 2 tablespoons/15 g freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano; 2 medium zucchini, washed, chopped into bite-size pieces; 1 pinch coarse sea salt; 1 tablespoon/15 ml nut-free pesto per bowl of soup; 1 clove garlic, with the green heart removed, chopped into bits; 3½ ounces/100 g raw cauliflower; 1 medium onion, coarsely chopped; 2 plum tomatoes, peeled and seeded, chopped into chunks; 3½ ounces/100 g pumpkin or yellow squash; 2 leeks, washed, chopped into chunks; 2 carrots, washed, peeled, coarsely chopped; 2 medium potatoes, washed, peeled, coarsely chopped; 2 ounces/50 g thin string beans

Minestrone, Genoese-Style

Preparation info

Makes
4 to 6
servings

Difficulty
Medium

Appears in

Recipes from Paradise

By Fred Plotkin

Published 1997

About

The word minestrone means “big soup” and certainly this one is. When most North Americans think of minestrone, it is closer to the vegetable soup popular in Milan, in which one can still readily recognize the different ingredients. By contrast, Ligurian minestrone (menestron in dialect) cooks gently until the ingredients come apart. This is a more homogeneous vegetable soup, but one that is complex in subtle flavors. Ligurian minestrone is always finished with a spoonful of pe

Ingredients

Europe
Italy
Vegetarian
Soup
Liguria
Mediterranean

Ingredients

Method