Menestron

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

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
Liguria
Vegetarian
Soup
Mediterranean

Ingredients

Method