Minestrone soup with beef recipe. Classic recipes for Italian minestrone soup

She entered our lives tightly and reliably. True, it’s somehow one-sided, mainly pizzas, pasta and lasagna. But in the culinary world of the “boot” country there are a lot of excellent soups, primarily minestrone. This dish is almost the most beloved in its homeland: Italians, unlike most Europeans, respect hearty lunches, not dinners. Moreover, it can be light, and very satisfying, and in the form of puree, and the usual first. classic is prepared in a variety of ways. In fact, every housewife has her own recipe. But, no matter which one you choose, either one will be approved by both you and your loved ones.

What's behind the name?

Italian names of dishes indicate exactly what they mean. So, minestra is just a soup, minestrina is a light version of it, and minestrone is a thick, rich version. Moreover, thickness is not necessarily achieved by pureeing; simply putting as many ingredients as possible into the dish. And the minestrone must be beautiful, otherwise you will get something tasty, but very ordinary.

General rules

Initially, classic minestrone took a very long time to prepare - up to six hours. During the process, the vegetables were boiled almost to the point of puree. Modern equipment that makes cooking easier has reduced the time to three hours, or even less - after all, a porridge-like consistency is not difficult to obtain using a blender. However, several rules are still observed today.

1. Vegetables placed in minestrone are fried, and in many cases also pre-stewed.
2. Minestrone is a seasonal dish. You should not scrupulously follow the recipe and use expensive winter bell peppers that are full of chemicals. You can take something more natural.
3. The soup must definitely contain legumes. It could be peas, beans or chickpeas. Of course, preference should be given to fresh ones, but if they are not available, the beans are soaked in advance.
4. If you are interested in real minestrone soup, the classic recipe advises grinding some of the vegetables and leaving some in pieces: the thickness will be sufficient, and whole slices will add beauty and richness.
5. Pasta is taken exclusively from hard varieties.
6. Lots of greenery is a must!

A classic minestrone should contain at least a dozen different vegetables. It is not always possible to diversify the ingredients so much, but you will have to “get” at least 6-7 types.

Delicious minestrone: recipe with photo

We assume that we only have dry beans in stock. A glass of beans is filled with water overnight, and the next morning it is boiled for two hours until completely soft. Unevaporated water is drained. A head of romaine and radicchio, a large sweet pepper and a blue onion are coarsely chopped and boiled for a quarter of an hour. The broth is strained, the vegetables are pureed. The onion is cut finely, the carrot is grated; They are used for frying. Greens - parsley, onion and dill - are chopped. A 200-gram head of Camembert is cut into cubes. Vegetable puree is added to two liters of broth; After it boils, frying and beans are introduced. Minestrone is brought to a boil again, after which cheese and herbs are added. Almost immediately after stirring, cover the pan and remove it from the heat. A quarter of an hour of infusion - and lunch is ready.

Classic with bacon

Don’t forget that minestrone is a very “democratic” soup, and among the recipes you can find one that suits everyone. Including those who prefer meat dishes. Minestrone is especially delicious with bacon. To create it, 100 grams of bacon are cut into cubes and simmered in vegetable (preferably olive) oil. When the “lard” releases the fat, add two chopped onions and a garlic clove. As soon as the frying is golden, it is transferred to a saucepan and supplemented with chopped four stalks of celery, a medium zucchini, one hundred grams of fresh beans, two tomatoes, asparagus (about 4 pieces) and bell peppers - for beauty, take one red and the other yellow. Without adding liquid, the vegetables are stewed until softened, after which one and a half liters of broth or hot water is poured in, and cooking continues for another 20 minutes. Shortly before turning off the stove, the minestrone is flavored with chopped chili pepper, salt and any herbs.

Minestrone with pasta

Everyone knows how much Italians love pasta. It is not surprising that minestrone soup is also prepared with them. The classic recipe with pasta is implemented in several stages:

1. Larger leeks and two celery stalks are cut into thin slices.
2. Two carrots are chopped into strips.
3. A medium-sized zucchini is cut into small cubes.
4. All ingredients are placed in a large saucepan, half a glass of green beans and three tablespoons of olive oil are added.
5. The container is placed on the fire; When it starts to sizzle, close the lid and turn on the fire. Extinguishing is carried out for about 15 minutes, with periodic shaking.
6. Add water or broth, about one and a half liters, a can of canned tomatoes, thyme, pepper, fresh basil and herbs - and again under the lid for half an hour.
7. The final touch is a can of canned beans along with juice and... pasta.

After ten minutes of cooking, the soup is poured into plates, flavored with grated cheese and chopped parsley and eaten hot.

Italian mushroom soup

Another simply wonderful minestrone! We will present the recipe with a photo and a detailed description of the cooking technology to your attention right now. So... Housewives will need to soak and cook half a glass of beans ahead of time. Place a two-liter pan of water on the fire. While it is boiling, potatoes, carrots, half a zucchini, an eggplant and a large tomato are cut (not too large), about a hundred grams of fresh mushrooms, and the same amount of pumpkin. All this is put into boiling water, supplemented with green beans and fresh peas (half a glass each), and after boiling it is kept on the stove for a quarter of an hour. Then the onion is chopped into half rings, the garlic clove into slices, and a little white cabbage into strips. All this is poured into the pan, the soup is salted and flavored with spices: marjoram, basil, oregano, savory. After another 15 minutes, add fine paste - about half a glass - and add a spoonful of olive oil.

When the pasta is ready, the minestrone is immediately poured into portions, freshly prepared pesto sauce is added - and you can start lunch. This bright, aromatic and incredibly tasty soup will surely please your loved ones. Bon appetit!

Each country has its own signature first course. For example, among the Eastern Slavs, borscht is traditional, the Spaniards are proud of their gazpacho soup, in Georgia they love lobio, but the Italians simply idolize the rich and thick minestrone. Translated from Italian, the name of this dish means “big soup.” And the Italians themselves proudly call him “monster.” And all because its components are quite a lot of different ingredients. These are mainly seasonal vegetables that can be bought at the market at this time of year. It is very difficult to talk about any specific recipe. Indeed, depending on the season, the composition of the soup changes. There is, of course, a traditional set. These are necessarily beans, which are added at the very end of cooking. And also carrots, onions and celery, or, as the Italians call it, soffrito, which are cut as small as possible. The rest of the vegetable set depends on the season and the preferences of the housewife. Probably, it is precisely this versatility that the Italians value in their “soup”. Minestrone is quite filling and satisfies hunger perfectly. They prepare this first meal in a large bowl, and then everyone is invited to the table. Minestrone is also called the soup of long-livers. And this is also no coincidence. After all, by enjoying healthy food, pleasant communication, and receiving only positive things, a person lives longer. Do you want the main secret of making minestrone? This, oddly enough, is unhurried. Once upon a time, this soup took about 6 hours to prepare. Now the time has been reduced by almost half, probably thanks to modern technologies. But every Italian chef clearly knows that in order to prepare real Italian minestrone soup, you need to slowly simmer all the ingredients over low heat. If you fry or stew vegetables, do it slowly too, so that each product plays its own violin in this wonderful orchestra.

Ingredients (for a 3 liter saucepan)

• 4 chicken wings for broth + water or 2 liters. prepared chicken broth;
• 2 medium carrots;
• 2 onions;
• 2-3 stalks of celery;
• 300 g green beans;
• 1 large red bell pepper;
• 2 large fleshy tomatoes;
• can of canned beans;
• 0.5 tbsp. durum wheat pasta;
• Italian spices: dried basil, oregano;
• 2-3 sprigs of green basil;
• a little olive oil;
• salt, ground black pepper, a small ring of red hot pepper.

for croutons and serving minestrone:

• half a baguette;
• 50 g parmesan;
• 2-3 cloves of garlic;
• a little olive oil;
• spices.

How to cook Italian Minestrone soup, classic recipe with photos

1. Rinse the chicken legs in cool water and dry with a paper towel. Pour a small amount of olive oil into a cast-iron cauldron, put the legs in there and fry them until a light golden brown crust forms.

2. Next, pour purified water into the pot and cook the broth under the lid over low heat for 40 minutes. Italian minestrone soup is essentially vegetable. Therefore, we will not use chicken meat later. If you wish, you can not cook the chicken at all, but prepare the soup exclusively with vegetable broth.

3. While the broth is cooking, let's prepare the croutons, with which we will serve the minestrone. Cut the baguette into small pieces, brush them lightly with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper.

4. Now let's prepare soffrito, which is the basis for many Italian dishes. Peel the carrots, onions and celery. Rinse and chop very finely.

5. Fry chopped vegetables or soffrito in olive oil. We remember that minestrone cannot be rushed, so we do everything slowly but thoroughly. Roasted vegetables make the soup brighter, heartier and richer.

7. The first new ingredient is to add green beans. Rinse it in cool water, remove excess liquid with a paper towel and cut it into pieces about 2 cm long. Place the prepared beans in the pan and continue to simmer the dish over low heat.

8. Next, peel the bell pepper, rinse it and cut it into small cubes. In order for minestrone to be bright not only in taste, it is better to choose red pepper. Add pepper to soup. We also add spices. Salt to taste.

9. Now tomatoes. Wash the tomatoes, remove the skin from them. This is very easy to do if you literally put them in boiling water for a minute. Next, cut the tomatoes into cubes. Add tomatoes to soup.

10. Now add the pasta. Cook them until al dente (half cooked). After turning off the soup, the pasta will cook on its own and will not turn into porridge.

11. Mix all ingredients in a saucepan. It can be seen that the minestrone turns out to be quite thick. In general, Italians believe that the thicker the food, the better. It should even hold a spoon.

12. Finely chop the washed green basil and also add it to the minestrone.

13. Now add the canned beans to the pan. Let the soup boil a little and turn it off. Cover with a lid and let it brew.

14. Minestrone soup, a classic recipe with a photo of which was kindly provided for your consideration, is ready! Pour the infused soup into beautiful bowls, garnish with thin slices of Parmesan cheese and serve with croutons. Italians prepare a lot of minestrone so that it is sure to remain for the second day. It’s not for nothing that it’s also called second-day soup. It is after a day that Italian minestrone soup acquires a special chic and richness. Giving their flavor to the broth, the vegetables become incredibly tasty. Bon appetit!

Italian vegetable soup is a popular lunch option in Italian families. It always contains a lot of ingredients, which makes the taste of the dish unique. The best Minestrone recipes are collected in this collection.

Ingredients: 320 g of zucchini, 120 g of potatoes, bell peppers and onions, 200 g of tomatoes, 80 g of carrots, 60 g of tomato paste, a clove of garlic, 30 g of hard cheese, 7 large spoons of olive oil, 1.3 l of peeled water, salt.

1. All the requested vegetables are placed in a frying pan with heated olive oil one by one for frying. First, these are randomly chopped carrots and onions. Then – bell pepper and garlic. For Minestrone, finely chopped vegetables are considered more suitable. The last pieces of tomatoes without skin and zucchini are placed in the frying pan.
2. When all the listed ingredients are fried, you can transfer them to a saucepan and fill with salted cold water.
3. After the liquid boils, potato blocks are added to it. Cooking lasts 17 - 20 minutes.
4. Some of the prepared vegetables are removed with a slotted spoon. The rest are pureed with an immersion blender. Whole ingredients are returned to the pan.

According to the classic Minestrone recipe, the dish is served with tomato paste and finely grated cheese.

In a slow cooker

Ingredients: 230 g beef, 3 medium-sized potatoes, a stalk of celery, 2 carrots and onions each. turnips, 160 g cabbage, small zucchini, half a bunch of fresh herbs, a mix of peppers, 5 - 6 fresh champignons, salt.

1. A cut is made crosswise in the middle of the onion, after which it is laid out in the bowl of an electric pan.
2. Turnips are peeled and cut into strips, carrots into quarters, potatoes and zucchini into cubes, mushrooms into slices. The cabbage is finely chopped, and the celery stalk is simply chopped into several pieces.
3. Next, all the vegetables are simply transferred to the slow cooker, and the whole piece of meat is placed on top.
4. Products are filled with water.
5. Minestrone soup will be cooked in the appropriate mode for 60 - 70 minutes.

The meat is removed from the finished dish, cut into pieces and returned back. Salt, peppers, and chopped herbs are added to the soup. The treat is left to warm for another 5 minutes.

In Genoese

Ingredients: 2 liters of vegetable broth, 90 g of pasta (pasta), 1 pc. onions, carrots, celery (stem), potatoes, tomatoes and zucchini, 90 g each of green peas and green beans, 60 g Brussels sprouts, a clove of garlic, 3 tbsp. l. olive oil, 60 g Parmesan, salt.

1. Finely chopped garlic, onion, carrot and celery stalk are fried in olive oil.
2. The vegetables are transferred to a saucepan and poured with salty broth. Pieces of potato are added to them. The mass is cooked for 15 - 17 minutes from the moment of boiling.
3. Add the remaining chopped vegetables, peas, beans and pasta. Cooking continues until all components are ready.

If necessary, add salt to the soup, sprinkle with grated Parmesan and serve.

Minestrone with chorizo

Ingredients: 40 g pasta, 60 g chorizo ​​(sausage), 50 g each sweet pepper, root celery, eggplant, zucchini, champignons, green beans, carrots, leeks and white beans, 6 pcs. cherry tomatoes, 1 liter of chicken broth, Pesto sauce, salt, a few dark basil leaves.

1. White beans are soaked in cold water in the evening.
2. All declared vegetables are peeled, washed, and cut into small pieces. Celery root is simply divided into several parts.
3. In a frying pan, the prepared ingredients are first fried until lightly browned, then poured with a small amount of broth and simmered for 20 - 25 minutes.
4. The sausage is cut as thin as possible and placed with the vegetables.
5. The contents of the frying pan and cherry tomatoes without skin are transferred into the broth, brought to a boil. Separately boiled green beans for 3 - 4 minutes are added there. Cook the soup for about half an hour, add salt to taste.

The treat is served hot with Pesto sauce and fresh basil leaves.

Option with collard greens and white beans

Ingredients: 2 cans of canned white beans, olive oil, medium onion, 2 garlic cloves, salt, 2 tbsp. l. tomato paste, 420 g kale, 1\2 tsp. dried thyme, the same amount of red pepper flakes, half a kilo of chopped tomatoes.

1. Heat olive oil in a large, thick saucepan. First, onions and garlic are fried on it. Salt and seasonings are immediately added to the vegetables.
2. Tomato paste is added to the already soft onion, and frying continues for another half a minute.
3. Next, shredded cabbage is moved into the pan.
4. After 4 - 6 minutes of cooking, add beans without liquid, chopped tomatoes and 4 glasses of water.
5. The soup is brought to a boil, salted, the heat is reduced and the dish is cooked for 12 - 14 minutes.

Ready-made Minestrone with beans is served for lunch with grated Parmesan.

Unusual Minestrone soup with pasta

Ingredients: 2 pcs. zucchini, squash (2 pieces), 230 g porcini mushrooms, olive oil, 2 carrots, onion, 3 stalks celery, 8 cups chicken broth, 2 cans white beans (canned), a cup of any pasta, a cup of green beans, a can tomatoes in their own juice, salt, 1/3 small. spoons of turmeric, Parmesan.

1. Zucchini, squash and onion are cut into cubes. Mushrooms – into 4 parts. Carrots and celery - optional. Mushrooms, zucchini and squash are sprinkled with salt, poured with olive oil, distributed on a baking sheet and baked for 8 - 9 minutes.
2. Fry chopped onions, celery and carrots in a pan in heated olive oil for 3 - 4 minutes. Add the broth to the ingredients and bring to a boil.
3. After 10 minutes, add two types of beans (canned beans are pre-washed). Pasta is added.
4. After another 6 minutes, pour out the canned tomatoes along with the liquid, salt and turmeric.
5. The products are poured with broth, and the baked ingredients are added to them. If necessary, the amount of liquid can be increased. After another 7 - 8 minutes, the soup will be completely ready.

The treat is served with thin slices of Parmesan and homemade bread.

Frozen vegetable soup

Ingredients: 340 g frozen Mexican vegetable mixture (with carrots, corn, peas, green beans and bell peppers), onion, 90 g small pasta, spices, table salt.

1. In a saucepan, the vegetable mixture is fried in any heated fat (it is best to use high-quality olive oil). It does not need to be defrosted first.
2. The onion is cut into small cubes. You can also use fresh garlic to taste.
3. When the vegetable mixture in the saucepan softens, add pieces of onion and garlic to it. The ingredients are simmered together until softened. From time to time the mass is mixed with a wide spoon.
4. After 15 minutes, you can pour the required amount of water onto the vegetables. The mass is salted and cooked over low heat for 12 - 14 minutes.
5. Half of the prepared vegetables are removed from the saucepan. The remaining mixture is pureed. Whole vegetables are returned to the soup and pasta is added.

After another 5 minutes, the Italian vegetable soup is removed from the stove and left to brew. It is served for lunch with fresh herbs.

Green soup a la Minestrone

Ingredients: onion, carrot, half a zucchini, 3 tbsp. l. chopped green beans, 180 g spinach, can of canned white beans, 650 ml chicken broth, olive oil, dry garlic, salt.

1. The oil is heated in a frying pan, grated carrots and small onion cubes are fried in it. Green beans are added. The ingredients are fried over low heat for 3 - 4 minutes.
2. Add zucchini cubes to the frying pan. Cooking with frequent stirring continues until it softens.
3. The contents of the container are placed in boiling salted broth. Spinach and washed canned beans are also sent there.
4. The soup should simmer for a couple of minutes.

The finished treat is served with finely grated cheese.

With smoked meats

Ingredients: 2 liters of vegetable broth, 130 g of white, red and green beans, 2 tomatoes, 4 garlic cloves, an onion, 320 g of smoked brisket, 80 g of small pasta, a bunch of fresh basil, salt, freshly ground black pepper, dry aromatic herbs.

1. The beans are soaked in cold water for several hours and then boiled until softened.
2. The tomatoes are scalded with boiling water and the skin is removed. Vegetables are cut into small pieces.
3. Green beans are removed from the tails and cut into small pieces.
4. The onion is washed and cut into cubes. Brisket - medium slices.
5. The meat is fried in a frying pan with onions until golden brown.
6. Three types of beans, as well as tomatoes, go into the frying pan. The broth is poured on top so that it completely covers the ingredients.
7. Together the products are stewed for 20 - 25 minutes.
8. The contents of the frying pan are poured into the pan. Pasta, aromatic herbs, black pepper, chopped basil, salt and crushed garlic are also moved there. If necessary, add a little more broth or water.

The soup is cooked until the pasta is ready and served.

Basil, rosemary, oregano and thyme work best for this dish.

For richness, you can add both small pasta and rice to the dish. Fried ham and/or meat, as well as grated cheese will make it even thicker and more appetizing.

Vegetables for Minestrone should be simmered very slowly in a frying pan until soft, so that their flavor is fully revealed. To do this, they are fried in olive oil over low heat.

Regardless of whether you love Italian cuisine or are very relaxed about it, once in your life you should definitely try to cook real Italian vegetable soup - Minestrone.

Minestrone is very popular in Italy

Firstly, this is a beautiful dish, with a beautiful name and stunningly beautiful taste. Secondly, a bowl of such soup contains ONLY 210 kcal, despite the fact that its benefits for the body and figure are practically inestimable! And in general, your loved one must finally admit that healthy eating is not about “Beeeeee...”.

Minestrone is a very popular dish in Italy. Those who have been to Europe have probably noticed that the attitude of Europeans towards soups is completely different from that of us - Russians. If Europeans want something liquid and hot, they order regular meat broth. And all the so-called European soups are not soups at all, but rather purees of stewed vegetables. Minestrone is no exception. This is a rich, pureed and slightly liquid stew made from a large number of vegetables.

By the way, there are really a lot of vegetables in the classic version of the soup - at least ten different types. Add to this broth from meat, bacon or poultry, cheese dressing, Pesto sauce and be sure not to forget pasta. What you get is not soup - soup!!! But this is exactly how the name of the soup is translated from Italian. What can I say, original...

If your goal is to get the same taste as in Italy, then relax. The fact is that in each region the “boot” of Minestrone is prepared in its own way. Just like ours - borscht or okroshka. Therefore, feel free to experiment with the composition. The main thing is to adhere to the general rules:

1. Vegetables need to be fried and then simmered over SLOW heat, slowly. Be patient and free up time. It will take you 1.5-2 hours to do everything.
2. Vegetables should be seasonal. Don’t chase “chemical” bell peppers in the middle of winter, but replace them with something more healthy.
3. The soup should contain some legumes - peas, chickpeas, beans. Of course, fresh and green ones are better.
4. Some of the vegetables in the soup should be pureed, some should be hard.
5. We add only durum pasta or pasta, otherwise all the usefulness is down the drain.
6. Don't skimp on greens - basil, parsley - the more, the better.
7. Minestrone should be thick. The more variety of vegetables you use, the better. Let not 10, but 7 or 8 species should be present.

The recipe for Italian Minestrone soup, which you will read below, does not claim to be the only correct one. However, it will serve as a guide for you in your own research. So let's begin.

To prepare six servings of soup we need:

• 1 small zucchini;
• 1 large or 2 small onions;
• 2 medium potatoes;
• 1 carrot;
• 2-3 tomatoes;
• 2 sweet bell peppers, in different colors if possible;
• 50-60 gr. durum wheat pasta or small pasta;
• 1 clove of garlic;
• 250gr. green beans
• 20 any hard cheese;
• 100 ml. olive oil;
• 1.2 liters of water;
• herbs (basil, parsley, oregano, etc.) and spices (salt, black, red pepper, chili pepper, pesto sauce) to taste;

Cooking delicious Italian vegetable soup

Cooking Italian Minestrone soup begins with preparing the vegetables: they need to be thoroughly washed in running water and peeled, peeled, and seeds removed. If the zucchini is young, you don’t have to peel it, otherwise it’s better to peel it so that there are no solid particles in the finished soup. Cut the zucchini, potatoes, carrots, and onions into small cubes of the same size. Soak the beans (if they are dry) in water. Cut the sweet bell pepper into thin and small strips.

Take a thick-bottomed saucepan, cauldron, stewpan or deep frying pan and heat 3 tbsp. spoons of olive oil. The oil should not boil! Add carrots and onions to the heated oil. Fry them over low heat for about five minutes, until the onion becomes translucent.

Next, add bell peppers and finely chopped garlic to the onions and carrots, let them fry for another five minutes. Then pour another 4 tablespoons of olive oil into the pan and add the zucchini. Periodically stir the soup mixture thoroughly and simmer the vegetables for fifteen minutes over the same low heat.

The last to go into the pan are the peeled tomatoes and beans. They need to let them fry for just five minutes.

After all the vegetables are fried, pour cold water into the container and put on fire. We wait until the water boils, and then add the potatoes. Now wait 20 minutes until the potatoes are thoroughly cooked and the soup acquires a rich taste. Turn off the fire.

We take some of the cooked vegetables out of the container using a slotted spoon and put them on a plate to cool. Those vegetables that remain in the pan must be thoroughly chopped using a blender.

We return the set aside vegetables to their place, and put our container with soup back on the fire and boil. Throw the pasta into boiling water, boil it until half cooked, add spices, boil for another 1-2 minutes and turn off the heat.

Congratulations - your Italian Minestrone soup is ready! Don't forget to garnish it with cheese and herbs before serving.

"Minestrone" in Italian means "big soup", that is, a soup with many different ingredients. In Italy, this light vegetable dish is perhaps one of the most popular. It is usually prepared in the summer - from seasonal fresh vegetables, sometimes adding curly pasta or arborio rice for richness. It is served both hot and cold. For those who are watching their figure, want to lose weight, or simply don’t like heavy food during the hot season, minestrone soup is the ideal choice.

Minestrone soup does not have a strictly defined set of ingredients. The Italians themselves adhere to only one rule - all vegetables for soup should be only those that are currently sold in the local market. That is why the ideal time for preparing minestrone in our country is the second half of summer, when a huge amount of vegetables from the garden appear on the shelves - carrots, tomatoes, zucchini, eggplants, and milk corn cobs.

In addition to a wide selection of ingredients, this soup can be prepared on any basis. On a hot day, it is better to cook minestrone simply with water or vegetable broth and serve cold. Towards the end of summer, when the rainy season begins and it gets colder, a hot, rich soup with meat broth will help you warm up. The same goes for adding rice or pasta. If your goal is to lose weight, prepare yourself minestrone with only vegetables. For your beloved man or children, it is quite possible to add white round-grain rice or curly pasta, such as farfalle butterflies, conchiglie shells, penne penne or fusilli spirals, to the soup.

By the way, the lack of a clear recipe is due to the fact that historically minestrone was the soup of the poor. This is the same combined dish as pizza, goulash or okroshka. The soup was prepared using the broth that was available, or using water if there was no meat in the house. We added all the vegetables that were available to the minestrone. For satiety, rice, pasta, legumes, and pieces of cheese could be added to the soup. In general, minestrone is a soup beloved by Italian peasants, which could contain almost any ingredient. In Italy itself, there are still different soup recipes in different regions. For example, in the central part of the country, minestrone is usually prepared with pesto sauce, in the north - with young peas and pieces of bacon, closer to the south - with boiled beans or chickpeas.

Vegetables for minestrone:

zucchini or zucchini, onions (onion, red, white, shallots, leeks), broccoli, cauliflower, potatoes, carrots, bell peppers, pumpkin, fennel, parsnips, celery root and stalks, asparagus, spinach, green peas, beans, lentils

Minestrone: recipe by Christian Lorenzini, chef of Buono and Christian restaurants

Photo: Restaurant Buono

4 servings
Vegetable broth - 2 l
Boiled lentils - 4 tbsp. l.
Boiled red beans - 4 tbsp. l.
Carrots - 1 pc.
Potatoes - 2 pcs.
Celery - 2 stalks
Zucchini - 1 pc.
Green asparagus - 4 stalks
Broccoli - 100 g
Fresh spinach - 1 bunch
Salt and pepper - to taste
Parsley - 4 sprigs
Olive oil - 1 tbsp. l.
Salt and pepper - to taste

1. Peel all vegetables and cut into medium-sized pieces.
2. Fry carrots, potatoes, celery in oil until half cooked, pour in vegetable broth and cook over medium heat for 10 minutes.
3. Add boiled beans and lentils, cut into broccoli florets, chopped asparagus and zucchini, and spinach leaves. Cook for another 10 minutes. Salt and pepper to taste.
4. Place a third of the soup in a blender, grind to a puree consistency, put back into the soup, and let it boil for 2-3 minutes.
5. Serve the finished soup hot or cold with parsley leaves.

Genoese-style minestrone: recipe by Paolo Boccolini, chef of the Donna Margherita restaurant

Photo: Shutterstock.com

4 servings
Potatoes - 2-3 pcs.
Fennel - 1 pc.
Celery stalk - 3-4 pcs.
Leek (white part) - 1 pc.
Grated Parmesan - 1 tbsp. l.
Garlic - 1 clove
Rosemary - 1 sprig
Carrots - 0.5 pcs.
Zucchini - 1 pc.
Savoy cabbage - 75 g
Pumpkin - 50g
Fresh spinach - 40 g
Boiled beans - 75g
Olive oil - 65g
Water - 1.5-2 l
Salt - to taste

Cooking method
1. In a thick-bottomed pan, fry chopped garlic, carrots and onions, cut into small cubes, in olive oil, add a sprig of rosemary.
2. Fill with water, add diced potatoes, pre-boiled beans, finely chopped leeks, celery stalk, green part of zucchini, savoy cabbage, pumpkin, fennel, salt, pepper and cook until tender.
3. Pour soup into a deep plate, add finely chopped spinach, sprinkle with grated Parmesan, drizzle with olive oil

Minestrone with pesto sauce: recipe by Mirko Dzago, chef of the Cheese restaurant

Photo: Shutterstock.com

4 servings
Zucchini - 1 pc.
Bell pepper - 0.5 pcs.
Leek - 20 g
Red onion - 0.25 pcs.
Potatoes - 1-2 pcs.
Pumpkin - 100 g
Celery - 1 stalk
Broccoli - 60 g
Ready tomato sauce - 60 g
Olive oil - 1 tbsp. l.
Vegetable broth - 850 ml
Peeled garlic - 1 clove
Peeled carrots - 1 pc.
Cauliflower - 60 g
Fresh thyme - a pinch
Salt - to taste

For the pesto sauce:
Pine nut - 55 g
Olive oil - 500 ml
Peeled garlic - 2-3 cloves
Fresh basil - 400 g
Grated Parmesan - 100 g
Sea salt - to taste

1. For pesto sauce: place ingredients in a blender in layers: basil leaves, cheese, nuts, garlic. Then add olive oil and process everything, turning the blender on and off periodically. Add salt to taste.
2. Peel the vegetables, cut into small cubes, sauté in olive oil, then add to the prepared vegetable broth. Bring to a boil. Then add tomato paste. And add the rest of the ingredients.
3. Bring until done (about 20 minutes). Add pesto sauce to the prepared minestrone, mix and pour into plates.