How to cook vegetable minestrone. Classic recipes for Italian minestrone soup. Tomato minestrone recipe

"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 in this moment sold on 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 (onions, red, white, shallots, leeks), broccoli, cauliflower, potatoes, carrots, bell pepper, pumpkin, fennel, parsnip, celery root and stalks, asparagus, spinach, green pea, 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 olive oil in a thick-bottomed pan, fry chopped garlic, carrots and onion, cut into small cubes, 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.

Minestrone soup is the most popular first course in Italy. Want to learn more about their nutritional principles? Then be sure to try one of the suggested recipes!

The classic Minestrone recipe is not at all complicated; it includes legumes, broth and vegetables.

Required Products:

onion, carrot and Bell pepper;
three potatoes;
one and a half liters of vegetable broth;
approximately 200 grams of canned beans;
two tomatoes and zucchini;
garlic clove;
seasonings and herbs to your taste.

Cooking process:

First, cut the garlic and onion into small pieces and fry them in a pan heated on the stove until they become a little transparent.
Then put the carrots in cubes there and keep for about five more minutes.
Chop all the remaining vegetables as finely as possible, add to the rest of the ingredients and cook until soft over low heat for 15 minutes.
We fill this vegetable mass with cold broth, season with the selected spices, add cubed potatoes and cook until they become soft.
Add the beans to the soup, after draining the liquid from them.
After two minutes, we take out a quarter of the vegetables from the soup, and turn those that are left into puree using a blender. Add the vegetables back to the soup and the dish is ready to serve.

In a slow cooker

Italian vegetable soup can also be made in a slow cooker, simplifying the process a little.

Required Products:

onions and carrots;
liter of broth;
two tomatoes;
zucchini and sweet pepper;
seasonings to your taste;
three potatoes;
two cloves of garlic;
about 200 grams of canned beans.

Cooking process:

Chop all the vegetables as finely as possible, except beans, of course.
Set the multicooker to the “Baking” mode and start frying the onions, gradually adding other vegetables to it and bringing them to softness. You don't need to use the potatoes yet.
Pour the resulting mass with broth and season with various spices. Place the potatoes and turn the multicooker on “Soup” mode for 30 minutes.
When the program comes to the end, add the beans, draining them of excess liquid. The dish is ready to serve.

Cooking vegetable soup Minestrone in Genoese style

Another version of a hearty Italian soup.

Required Products:

two zucchini;
100 grams of peas and the same amount of beans;
two tomatoes and the same amount of carrots;
50 grams of olive oil;
100 grams of pasta;
three potatoes;
bunch of basil;
garlic clove;
spices as desired.

Cooking process:

Place a pan of water on heat and add chopped potatoes, carrots and zucchini. Cover with a lid, reduce the heat, leave to simmer, and after a couple of minutes, add the beans and peas.
You need to prepare the sauce in a separate container. To do this, combine peeled tomatoes with garlic and basil, beat in a blender until smooth and add olive oil.
Place this mixture in a saucepan with soup, add seasonings, add pasta and remove after five minutes, when they are already soft.

Option with collard greens and white beans

You can slightly diversify your usual soup using other ingredients.

Required Products:

300 grams of tomato;
two tablespoons of tomato paste;
about 300 grams of white beans;
bulb;
400 grams of kale;
seasonings, garlic, herbs - optional.

Cooking process:

Start cooking immediately in the pan. Place chopped onion and garlic there, fry for a couple of minutes, season with spices.
Then add tomato paste, cabbage leaves, cut into small pieces, and keep on fire for about four minutes.
Free the beans from excess liquid, soften them in a bowl, and add them to the vegetables. Also add chopped tomatoes and fill everything with the required amount of water so that the pan is full.
Add garlic, pepper and herbs to taste and cook until cabbage is tender, about 15 minutes.

Unusual Minestrone soup with pasta

Since this is an Italian dish, it is not surprising that the soup can also be prepared with pasta.

Required Products:

one zucchini;
carrots and onions;
150 grams of pasta;
200 grams of beans;
two potatoes;
herbs and seasonings to your taste;
50 grams of Parmesan.

Cooking process:

Take a saucepan with a good bottom so that you can fry the vegetables in it.
Grind everything listed in the ingredients, except beans and potatoes, and bring until soft in a heated container.
Fill with water until the pan is almost full. Add seasonings.
Add chopped potatoes and beans without liquid to the soup and keep on medium heat until the ingredients are soft.

Serve the dish sprinkled with Parmesan.

Frozen vegetable soup

Certainly, fresh vegetables much more useful, but in winter you can also use “freezing”.

Required Products:

two cloves of garlic;
seasonings to taste;
50 grams of pasta;
two potatoes;
ready-made frozen vegetable mixture.

Cooking process:

Fill the pan with water and, when it boils, put in the pre-chopped potatoes, and then the chopped garlic.
After about 15 minutes, when the potatoes are almost soft, add the frozen mixture and cook it for 10 minutes after boiling.
Add pasta, add seasonings to taste and cook until done. You can remove it when the paste becomes soft.

Before serving, let the dish sit for 20 minutes.

Secrets and tricks of cooking

In order for the soup to truly turn out the way the Italians prepare it, some nuances must be observed.

Prepare the dish from seasonal vegetables, so the ingredients do not always have to be the same.
Avoid arugula and Brussels sprouts - these vegetables will overpower the flavor.
For piquancy, you can add a little dry wine to the soup.
You can cook it with any broth, but Italians prefer a mixture of bone-in ham and bacon.
To make the soup richer, add legumes, pasta or arborio rice, which is usually bought for risotto.

Cooking secrets

Minestrone: preparing an Italian mystery according to the rules

Italians are very fond of thick and rich minestrone soup, which is the most popular dish in Italy - just like our borscht. Interestingly, minestrone in Italian means “big soup” or “soup”, since it contains a huge number of different ingredients. According to tradition, it is boiled in a large saucepan, and then the whole family is invited to the table. Children, parents, grandparents noisily and cheerfully taste a delicious dish, enjoy life and enjoy communication. It’s probably no coincidence that minestrone is called the soup of long-livers, because good mood at the table promotes longevity.

Minestrone is made from seasonal vegetables that can be found at the market at this time of year, so its composition may vary. It turns out that there are no strict recipes for preparing minestrone, and each housewife can cook it in her own way. It is for this versatility that Italians value their “soup,” which perfectly satisfies hunger and satisfies the refined tastes of gourmets.

How to cook minestrone: choosing vegetables

The most suitable period for preparing this dish is the second half of summer and autumn, when markets and stores are full of vegetables, since vegetables are the main component of minestrone. But this does not mean that you need to give up this dish in winter and spring. No Italian would ever make such sacrifices! Since minestrone is a universal dish, you can use any vegetables, however, this does not mean that you can mix them thoughtlessly. If you follow some rules accepted in Italian cuisine, the taste of the dish will only benefit from this.

Zucchini, eggplant, sweet peppers, green peas, tomatoes, fresh and green beans are suitable for summer-autumn. Winter and spring soup is cooked with chard beets, dry beans, broccoli, white cabbage, cauliflower and savoy cabbage. Italians add onions, garlic, carrots and celery to the dish. all year round. However, taking into account Russian conditions, we can make some changes to the classic minestrone recipe by adding potatoes, pumpkin, zucchini, corn, asparagus, fennel, spinach, lentils and other seasonal vegetables growing in our area to the soup. In winter versions of the soup, you can add regular beets, frozen and canned vegetables, although Italian gourmets are against frozen vegetables. As they say, there is no arguing about tastes!

A few more interesting points. Rarely do any Italian chefs use Brussels sprouts and arugula for minestrone - it is believed that they interrupt the taste and aroma of other vegetables and the soup smells only of Brussels sprouts or arugula. However, if you really love these vegetables, why not add them to minestrone? Chicory, artichokes and radicchio add a bitter taste to the dish and are therefore not usually used.

How to cook minestrone: broth, spices and additives

This light soup is cooked in vegetable, meat or chicken broth. Italians themselves love broth made from pancetta - Italian bacon or ham on the bone. Sometimes a little dry wine is added to the broth for piquancy and refinement of taste.

Spices and seasonings are a mandatory ingredient in minestrone, since without spices the soup will lose its flavor. It may turn out tasty, but it won’t be minestrone. Italians mainly use rosemary, garlic, parsley, basil, thyme, bay leaf, oregano and pesto. For richness, add to the soup different types legumes, curly pasta from durum varieties wheat in the form of butterflies, shells, bows, feathers or spirals and arborio rice, which is usually used for risotto. Fried meat and ham make the soup more satisfying and appetizing, and grated cheese gives it a tender and thick consistency.

I wonder what easy option The soup has its own name - minestrina, as the Italians affectionately call it. This soup, cooked with water or vegetable broth, is wonderfully refreshing on a hot day, especially if served chilled. Meat minestrone is more suitable for cold weather, as it warms well and satisfies hunger for a long time.

Despite the fact that Italian chefs adhere to certain rules for preparing this dish, historically, minestrone was a peasant soup, so everything that was at home was added to it. It was somewhat reminiscent of our solyanka or okroshka.

There are several secrets on how to cook minestrone so that it turns out tasty and appetizing.

Secret 1. Vegetables, cut into cubes, are placed in boiling salted water and cooked until tender, but the pan should not be covered with a lid. The water should be 5 cm above the level of the vegetables. The finished soup is poured into bowls, seasoned with olive oil, allspice and grated cheese. This dietary method of preparing minestrone is suitable for those who are watching their figure.

Secret 2. Vegetables are boiled in the same way as in the first recipe, and then half of them are crushed in a blender, and this puree is added to the soup. In this case, vegetables can be fried or not - it’s all a matter of taste.

Secret 3. Minestrone soup with vegetables fried in olive oil is richer, brighter, butterier and more satisfying. However, vegetables should be fried very slowly, almost simmering - this is exactly what is recommended in the classic minestrone soup recipe. However, given the modern rhythm of life, this is not always possible.

Secret 4. Cereals, pasta and legumes are added to the pan during the cooking process. In this case, beans and dry peas must be boiled in advance.

Secret 5. Minestrone is called the soup of the second day, because it is on the next day that it acquires a special richness. The fact is that vegetables give their aroma to the broth, and it acquires an appetizing taste that cannot be compared with anything.

A few more Italian subtleties

In Italy there are many different recipes for classic minestrone - for example, in Milan it is prepared with bacon, sage and Parmesan, in some Mediterranean areas with peppers and eggplant, and there are rural areas in Italy where the main ingredient in the soup is turnip. In Tuscany, cooks always add white beans to minestrone, in Sardinia - chickpeas, and in Liguria, pesto sauce is a mandatory addition. Italian minestrone is always very thick, so you can fill up even with one bowl of soup.

Classic minestrone soup from Liguria

Try cooking Ligurian style to understand why Italians are so fond of this dish. Chop 100g of pancetta into small pieces, which can be replaced with brisket or bacon, and fry in a pan with a little olive oil. Next, chop any seasonal vegetables, such as one carrot, one celery root, one zucchini, onions and leeks, 200 g of green beans, and also chop the beet tops. Add the onion to the pancetta, when it becomes slightly golden, add the carrots and celery to the pan. After 10 minutes of stewing, add all the other vegetables, add water so that it is 3 fingers higher, add salt and cook for an hour. Pour the small curly pasta into the pan and cook for 5-6 minutes until al dente - when the pasta is ready, but not overcooked, maintaining elasticity and a slightly hard core. Some Italian housewives add 2-3 peeled potatoes along with other vegetables, and then simply mash them with a spoon. By the way, bacon is not a necessary ingredient for this recipe. When the minestrone is ready, add 4 tbsp. l. pesto sauce and cool before serving - it will be much tastier!

Minestrone in Genoese style

Another interesting one Italian recipe Your family will definitely like it. This is how minestrone is brewed in Genoa, the capital of Liguria. Take a heavy bottom pan and fry a clove of garlic, diced small carrots and onion in a little olive oil, adding some fresh rosemary for flavor.

Next, fill the vegetables with water (about 1.5–2 liters), add 100 g of pre-boiled green beans and diced vegetables - 3 medium-sized potatoes, 50 g pumpkin, 1 zucchini, 100 g savoy cabbage, 1 fennel. Mix the vegetables with 3-4 finely chopped celery stalks and 1 leek (the white part), add the pasta, salt and pepper and cook until tender.

Pour the finished soup into plates, add 1 tbsp to each of them. l. fresh spinach and grated parmesan, drizzle with olive oil and enjoy the exquisite taste of minestrone!

Minestrone with chicken breast

Minestrone with chicken, although not an Italian classic, is very popular in modern European cuisine. Children love this soup, so make it for your little gourmets.

Cook chicken breast broth with bay leaf, onion, cloves and peppercorns. For one breast, take about 2 liters of water and let the broth simmer for about 40 minutes, then strain it and cut the chicken into cubes.

Also chop the vegetables into cubes or strips - 1 zucchini, 1 carrot, 1 onion, 2 celery roots, and disassemble half a head of cauliflower or broccoli into inflorescences. In a frying pan, fry the onion with 2 tbsp for a few minutes. l. butter and olive oil, add celery and carrots to it and after 3 minutes - zucchini. When the vegetables have simmered for a few more minutes, add them to the broth along with the chicken pieces and cook for a quarter of an hour.

Pour boiling water over 2 tomatoes, carefully peel them, chop finely and add to the soup along with cauliflower, add 100 g of fresh or frozen green peas and 150 g of small pasta. Cook the minestrone for another 7 minutes until the pasta is ready, season the dish with dry herbs, such as dill, parsley and basil, and let it brew.

Serve the flavorful minestrone with fresh herbs, grated Parmesan and fresh minced garlic.

Tomato minestrone Bolzano style

This soup, according to the recipe of the residents of Bolzano, is incredibly nourishing, appetizing and tasty. 100 g ground beef fry for 1 tbsp. l. olive oil with finely chopped onion and 2 cloves of garlic. Add diced carrots and half a celery root to the minced meat, fry a little more and add 2 tbsp. l. tomato paste, and then pour 2 liters of meat broth over the meat and vegetables, add 1 tbsp for sophistication. l. dry white wine and cook the minestrone for 15 minutes. Pour 200 g of any curly pasta into the pan and continue cooking until it is ready. Ladle the soup into bowls, garnish with a sprig of basil and sprinkle with grated Parmesan.

Minestrone with products from “Eat at Home”

On the website “Eating at Home!” you will find a recipe from Yulia Vysotskaya and many other interesting variations of this Italian soup. There are very unusual recipes with omelet, mushrooms, fish, seafood, lard, pearl barley, nuts and fruits. And the most delicious minestrone will be the one you prepared yourself for your beloved family. If you don't have fresh vegetables on hand, you can very easily replace them with frozen mixed vegetables. Make minestrone more often, because this soup is eaten so quickly!

If you want to cook for your family tasty soup according to the new recipe, pay attention to the traditional dish of Italian cuisine - minestrone. This is a multi-ingredient soup that uses seasonal vegetables. As a rule, this is a lean dish without the addition of meat. That is why minestrone is distinguished not only by its rich aroma and satiety, but also by its extreme benefits. How to prepare such soup at home, we will consider in this article.

Minestrone or vegetable soup

Minestrone is translated from Italian as “big soup,” that is, with an abundance of ingredients. Indeed, many vegetables are used to create this dish. Rice or pasta is sometimes added to the minestrone recipe.

This dish traditional cuisine Italy, which is extremely popular in the country. The soup cooks quite quickly. Vegetables are boiled until tender, some of which are chopped in a blender and added to the broth. Often the soup is seasoned with pesto, a sauce based on olive oil and basil, which gives not only aroma, but also a green color.

Initially, Italian housewives prepared minestrone from what was in the house - vegetables that grew at a given time of the year. The dish is not labor-intensive to create and also requires minimal financial costs.

Carrots, celery and more...

The more vegetables added to minestrone, the brighter the taste, and the better the satiety of the dish. Most often used to prepare soup:

eggplant;
fennel;
legumes;
carrot;
green pea;
garlic;
tomatoes;
pumpkin;
beet;
celery;
Bell pepper;
cabbage;
potato;
mushrooms;
zucchini and other vegetables.

The following greens are suitable for minestrone:

spinach;
thyme;
rosemary;
parsley;
basil.

Three secrets of minestrone

Italian vegetable soup has its own cooking characteristics. In order for the dish to have a unique taste, you should adhere to the following rules:

Seasonality. Minestrone contains vegetables that grow in the country at a given time.
Passerovka. The ingredients are fried in olive oil over low heat.
Bouillon. The base ingredient of minestrone soup. As a rule, vegetable broth is used, less often - meat or cooked with pancetta (bacon).

Italians say that you should cook minestrone slowly, carefully selecting ingredients. By observing the above points, the soup will turn out aromatic with a rich taste.

The appearance, satiety, consistency and taste of minestrone depends on many nuances. Experienced chefs highlight some nuances that are extremely important during cooking. Let's note the following tips that will help you create real Italian minestrone:

You should not use arugula and Brussels sprouts, as they have a rich aroma, which can drown out the taste of other vegetables.
If you want to make the dish more rich, you can add potatoes, legumes, pasta, pearl barley or rice to the recipe.
Minestrone is considered a “second day” dish, that is, the richness of flavor appears a few hours after it is ready. But you can also serve it immediately after cooking.
Do not use frozen vegetables. Despite the fact that this is a very convenient option for every housewife, such products significantly distort the taste of the soup. The only exception is green peas. For minestrone, use only fresh vegetables.
Do not add canned legumes to the dish.
Do not add ready-made bouillon cubes to the soup. The aroma and taste of fresh vegetables does not require additional enhancement. You can add spice using various herbs and pepper.
Don't be afraid to put in a lot of vegetables. There is no need to limit the recipe to just a few products. Sometimes about twenty types of vegetables can be combined in minestrone, which gives the soup a rich and unique taste.
Do not grind the ingredients too much. The average height of vegetable cubes is 1.5 cm. If beans are placed in minestrone, then the products are cut based on their size.

Calorie content

The nutritional value of minestrone is quite low - only 39 kcal per 100 g. This indicator is possible since the basic ingredients of the dish are vegetables, and the classic recipe uses lean broth. The calorie content of the soup increases by adding pasta, rice, meat, meatballs, etc.

Minestrone – dietary dish, providing undoubted benefit for the body. As the vegetables pass heat treatment, they are perfectly digestible digestive system. In addition, do not forget that carrots, zucchini, garlic and other gifts of nature are sources of vitamins and minerals that are so necessary for the full functioning of the body.

In order for vegetables to bring maximum benefit to the body, it is important not to forget to sprinkle the soup with olive oil, because polyunsaturated fats promote the absorption of beneficial microelements.

Classic recipe

Prepare the vegetables to be used. Wash them thoroughly and peel them. Divide the cabbage into florets. You need to remove the seeds and fibers from the pumpkin. Remove the beans from the bean pods.

Large vegetables are cut into cubes. Onions, garlic and herbs are finely chopped. Parsley can be chopped larger.

The bottom of a non-stick saucepan or high-sided frying pan is irrigated with olive oil. Vegetables must be sautéed for 10 minutes. Herbs and spices are added when the ingredients have softened.

It is necessary to add water and cook the components for another 30 minutes. The amount of liquid depends on the consistency of the soup you prefer.

Popular spices used for minestrone are:

salt;
pepper;
nutmeg;
spices;
Bay leaf.

Submission rules

Minestrone is a very colorful dish because it combines many vegetables - green, red, orange, etc. When serving, in Italy it is customary to drizzle the soup with a little olive oil, sprinkle with grated Parmesan cheese and garnish with a sprig of parsley. It is also acceptable to add a little pesto to the dish, which will make the minestrone more spicy.

Do not forget about the importance of the dishes in which vegetable soup is served. Regarding minestrone, it is suitable both in an elegant restaurant serving and in a rustic style, for example, in pots, small cast iron saucepans, etc.

The ideal complement to the soup would be traditional Italian Ciabata bread, with a crispy crust and soft porous crumb.

Minestrone can also be sprinkled with croutons or crackers grated with garlic.

Both in winter and in summer...

Italian soup is prepared at any time of the year and in each period it will have its own unique and inimitable taste. There is no doubt that there are a lot more fresh vegetables in the summer. But in winter you can prepare minestrone from pumpkin, garlic, carrots, potatoes, onions, legumes and other products that are perfectly stored until spring.

Minestrone roughly translated as “soup” or “big soup.” This is a rather thick and rich vegetable soup, to which green or dried beans, rice or pasta are necessarily added. Minestrone soup is prepared from many ingredients.

And it is believed that real Italian minestrone soup consists of about ten or even more types of vegetables.

Of the seasonal vegetables, Italian minestrone soup must include beans, stem celery, tomatoes and carrots. However, in general, any vegetables are suitable for soup, depending on the season, as we have already noted. So, in Italy, in each region, certain ingredients - vegetables and herbs - can be added to a minestrone dish or, conversely, taken away. In vegetable minestrone, you can add fried ham and ham. Then the soup will become even more satisfying.

You can also add grated Parmesan cheese or pesto sauce, finely chopped herbs, spices and, of course, basil to the prepared minestrone soup. A lighter but satisfying vegetable minestrone soup is called minestrina.

Classical minestrone soup- these are celery, onions, fennel and carrots. Potatoes and pumpkin are also added. In general, here you need your imagination and the widest scope for culinary creativity!

Why is minestrone a “soup of the second day”?

There is only one explanation, and quite simple. Try making minestrone and you will immediately appreciate the difference between its taste the day you prepare it and the taste the next day. Everything is banal and simple. The soup absolutely needs to brew well, soak in the vegetable aromas, but let the vegetables “make friends” with each other properly.

So, here are a few rules on how to cook real soup minestrone, in addition to the rule of ten vegetables. You can prepare minestrone soup with either vegetable broth (the classic version) or meat broth. However, the Italians themselves like to cook such a broth using Italian ham (pancheta), or ham, as well as chicken broth. Gourmets prefer to add grape wine to minestrone soup.

You can also add any vegetables you like to minestrone. However, legumes must be present in this dish. Most often these are beans. The most delicious minestrone is made from seasonal, most often summer, vegetables. Italians increasingly began to use celery, onions, carrots, fennel, potatoes, tomatoes, garlic, zucchini and pumpkin for this soup. Italian minestrone soup is always very rich, thick and satisfying.

Classic minestrone contains pasta made from durum wheat and rice.

The traditional recipe for minestrone is as follows: simmer the vegetables until tender, and then chop half of them in a blender and leave the other half as is. Then whole vegetables, mixed with chopped ones, simmer in olive oil over low heat, which will allow you to get the real “same taste” of traditional minestrone. Don't forget that the best herbs and spices for this dish are any herbs and basil.

Italian minestrone soup recipe

Throughout Europe, Italian cuisine is very in demand and popular. Moreover, some Italian dishes in rich European restaurants have become not only classics, but also a permanent feature of their menu. The harmonious, refined taste of Italian dishes and their beautiful names are just a small part of the reasons for the popularity of Italian cuisine. Italian minestrone is an exquisite and unique vegetable soup made in best traditions Italy.

We present to your attention a recipe for Italian minestrone soup. This is a very tasty minestrone soup with green beans. The taste of this soup with the addition of a few spoons of pesto will sparkle before your eyes with amazing, bright, multi-colored colors, and thus you will discover a completely different world for yourself - the world of exquisite taste and gastronomic bliss.

Ingredients:

4-5 small potatoes.
one piece of onion.
One or two cloves of garlic
1-2 carrots
half a 200 gram glass of peas
one zucchini.
celery stalk
half a glass (200 gr.) of green beans and French beans
a quarter of cabbage.
8-10 pieces of cabbage leaves.
spicy herbs - to taste
Parmesan cheese and cheese - to taste.

How to cook minestrone. Chop the garlic and onion very finely (you can chop the carrots on a fine grater) and fry them in olive oil. After frying, add a little water so that it takes up no more than 2/3 of the pan. Add all the finely chopped vegetables listed to the pan and cook until fully cooked. At the end of cooking, you can add tomatoes and beet leaves.

Meanwhile, take a separate pan and boil the beans and potatoes in it, which are well mashed with a fork or wooden spatula after cooking. Combine potatoes and beans with the contents of the first pan and cook over very low heat. Vegetable minestrone soup is served with Parmesan cheese, toasted bread, broth and noodles.

Minestrone soup Italian style

Minestrone soup is the most popular dish in both Italy and Europe. This is an old dish that has been prepared in different parts of Italy for many centuries. This soup was mainly prepared by rural residents, for whom minestrone soup was an everyday dish. This soup was prepared only from seasonal vegetables.

From rural Italian cuisine, minestrone soup slowly moved into national cuisine. However, in each region of Italy this soup is prepared differently. We will tell you about preparing minestrone with beans at home, by preparing which you can brag to your family and friends about such a European restaurant dish, but to some extent also familiar to you. After all, this dish is now prepared from those products that can be bought here, in our country. Here's minestrone soup, photo for it.

Ingredients:

Water - 2.5 liters,
bacon and rice - 100 grams each,
tomatoes – 4 pieces,
dried peas – 200 grams,
potatoes, zucchini - 2 pieces each,
onions and carrots - 1 piece,
cabbage – ½ head,
canned beans,
olive oil,
spices marjoram, oregano and basil.

How to cook minestrone in Italian

We cut the cabbage into strips, and we cut the zucchini into equal cubes, we also cut the carrots, potatoes and tomatoes into cubes. Cut the onion into half rings and fry it in advance along with the bacon in olive oil. Bring the water to a boil, add all the necessary vegetables, simmer over low heat for an hour and a half. Add onions, bacon, rice, thoroughly washed and green peas there. Cook until all vegetable ingredients are ready. Sprinkle minestrone soup with grated cheese before serving.

Minestrone soup classic recipe

Minestrone classic - This is another excellent option for a hearty soup, even for those who want to lose weight, since this soup, while very nutritious, is also low in calories, because... it is cooked purely in vegetable broth. Definitely Italian classic kitchen, very close to Russian cuisine. Therefore, all those who love to eat vegetables will have dinner or lunch with great pleasure with this very nourishing and very tasty soup! Your attention - classic soup minestrone recipe with photo.

Ingredients:

450 grams of tomatoes or tomatoes in their own juice,
200 grams of dry green beans,
400 grams of canned beans,
100 grams of short pasta,
1 clove of garlic,
zucchini, large stalk of celery,
potato tuber,
onion,
2 carrots,
dried rosemary – 0.5 teaspoon,
hot and black and red ground pepper,
grated parmesan,
basil,
olive oil,
salt.

How to cook classic minestrone

Heat a deep frying pan, pour in olive oil, place carrots, celery, onions cut into slices, pepper with black and hot pepper. Add salt, season with rosemary, fry until the onion is browned for five minutes.

Mash the tomatoes with a fork, place them separately in the pan and simmer for two minutes. Cut the zucchini and potatoes into cubes, drain the liquid from the beans, rinse the dry beans thoroughly, put all these vegetables in a frying pan with other vegetables and simmer for two minutes.

Pour more than 1.7 liters of water into the pan, remove everything from the pan, add chopped green beans, bring the entire contents to a boil. Cook vegetables until soft. At the end, add the pasta. Season classic minestrone soup with freshly chopped garlic and basil before serving. Stir the finished soup well one more time, keep it covered for a while (5 minutes). Pour grated Parmesan into bowls of soup.

A real vegetable minestrone. Recipe with photo

This is the most exquisite and nutritious vegetable minestrone soup, the recipe of which calls for the addition of over 10 vegetables.

We suggest preparing minestrone; see photos of how to prepare it below.

Ingredients:

medium red onion – 1 piece
carrots – 2 pieces (also medium)
celery – 1 piece
hot red pepper - 1/8 teaspoon
fresh rosemary – 1 tsp. (or half a teaspoon of prepared, dry rosemary)
tomatoes in their own juice – 450 grams
one potato and one medium zucchini each
canned beans – 1 jar
green beans – 250 grams
dry short pasta – 100 grams
garlic, grated Parmesan cheese
basil for serving
salt

Minestrone soup recipe

Chop carrots, onions, and celery very finely. Cut zucchini and potatoes into equal cubes. Drain the liquid from the beans in advance, rinse them, and let the water drain. Green beans are cut into small pieces.

Place the pan on the fire, the heat is slightly below medium. Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil on it. Add celery, carrots, onions, add hot pepper, rosemary, 0.25 teaspoon of ground black pepper. Fry, stirring constantly, for about 5-8 minutes, until the onion is completely golden. Add well mashed tomatoes with juice. Cook for no more than a minute until the liquid from the tomatoes has reduced slightly.

Add zucchini, potatoes and beans. Pour in vegetable broth (1.5 liters), bring the broth to a boil. Then add the beans and cook until softened. Add the paste ten minutes before the vegetable minestrone is ready. Add basil, garlic. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.

Minestrone soup, preparing a “big” soup

Minestrone soup in Italy is as frequent a guest on the table as we have borscht. This delicious first course has a lot of cooking variations. Even the classic recipe does not have clear specifics regarding its components. If you haven’t tried cooking this dish in your kitchen yet, you should definitely do so.

Even if lunchtime has already passed, your family will be able to appreciate its taste tomorrow, because Minestrone is considered a soup of the second day. We will tell you the recipe for minestrone soup and you will learn how to prepare the popular Italian dish yourself at home.

Cooking minestrone at home

Classic minestrone is also called “big soup”, and all because it contains a lot of ingredients. These are mainly vegetables, and in classic minestrone, Italians add exclusively seasonal vegetables grown in their own garden or purchased at the local market.

So the minestrone recipe depends to a large extent on what vegetables are available at the time of preparation, but there should certainly be a lot of them.

Besides them, in traditional recipe Minestrone soup includes vegetable (less often meat) broth, pasta, rice or beans, and sometimes pesto is added directly to the plate when served. The main feature of the soup, which distinguishes it from other first courses, is that the vegetables for it are fried slowly and alternately.

Traditionally, some of the prepared vegetables are pureed in a blender and then added to the pan. As you can imagine, the color and consistency of the soup can vary greatly. Italians believe that the most delicious minestrone soup is on the second day, when all the vegetables give off their aromas and tastes and they all mix into a holistic culinary composition.

Tomato minestrone recipe

Each housewife, after several trials, will discover her ideal vegetable minestrone, and perhaps the recipe we have proposed with a photo of an appetizing result will become just that.

To prepare you will need:

White beans, canned - half a can.
Bacon - 100g.
Onion - 1 medium.
Hot red pepper - 1 piece.
Potatoes - 2 small tubers.
Sweet pepper - 1 piece.
Green peas, frozen or fresh - half a glass.
A small zucchini.
Green beans - 100g.
Fennel - half a head.
Tomato juice - half a liter.
Fresh tomatoes - 3 medium sized.
Fresh basil (you can use other herbs too).
Parmesan.
Salt, bay leaf.
Olive oil.
A couple of cloves of garlic.

Let's start the cooking process. Italian minestrone soup has the following step by step diagram preparations:

First of all, all vegetables are peeled and cut into small cubes, except for garlic, which will be added with whole cloves.

Cut the bacon into small slices.

We take a large saucepan in which our vegetable minestrone will be cooked and pour olive oil into it.

The bacon goes into the pan first. Fry it over medium heat for 3 minutes. It should not brown.

Then add the onion and fennel to the bacon, fry for another 5-6 minutes, stirring.

Add hot pepper and continue to fry the mixture for about 3 minutes.

We are working on tomatoes, they need to be blanched: put a small saucepan of water on the stove and wait until it boils. Meanwhile, make a cross-shaped cut on the bottom of the tomatoes. Throw them into boiling water for just a minute. After this, the skin can be easily removed from the tomato. Blend them with a blender.

Place the tomato puree into a saucepan with soup.

Then after a couple of minutes add potatoes, sweet peppers, peas, zucchini, green beans and simmer the vegetables for 7 minutes.

Then pour in tomato juice and white beans. Mix everything and simmer for another 7 minutes.

Add water, salt, bay leaf and garlic cloves. Now our minestrone soup should simmer for 10-12 minutes.

Meanwhile, chop the basil and grate the Parmesan cheese on a fine grater.

We take out the bay leaves and garlic so that they do not bother anyone.

first course with tomato juice

RECIPE: CLASSIC MINESTRONE SOUP

Recipe ingredients:

Bell pepper – 100 g
Potatoes - 100 g
Zucchini – 100 g
Onion - 100 g
Carrots – 100 g
Green peas (frozen) - 70 g
Spinach - 10 g
Paste (fine) – 30 g
Garlic -2 cloves
Chicken broth - 500 ml
Sunflower oil - 20 g
Salt - to taste
Pepper - to taste

Minestrone vegetable soup classic recipe

A classic Italian dish is minestrone soup, which is made from fresh vegetables. The word “minestrone” itself is literally translated from Italian as “soup” - it received this name because of its thickness and richness. If you cook it correctly, then, as they say, “the spoon should stand in the plate”!

The required ingredients for minestrone are carrots and celery. But for the dish, you can take any fresh vegetables, and also add pieces of ham, which will make the soup even richer and thicker. But still, the main feature of this soup is the amount of vegetables: the more there are, the more varied they are, the better! Before serving, pesto sauce or finely grated Parmesan cheese are sometimes added to the minestrone and garnished with chopped herbs.

The indicated quantity of products is designed for 2 servings!

Peppers, carrots, potatoes. Cut the zucchini into cubes. Chop the garlic.
Heat sunflower oil in a saucepan. Add carrots and onions. Fry.
Gradually add garlic and pepper. The main thing is not to overdo it!
After a while, add the chopped potatoes and zucchini. Fry for 5-7 minutes.
Pour chicken broth into vegetables. Cook for 7-9 minutes.
Boil pasta in a separate bowl.
When the pasta is ready, add it to the vegetables in the broth. Pour in the peas.
Salt and pepper. Cook for 10 minutes.
Place spinach in a deep plate. Pour the soup. You can serve. Bon appetit!