Sunday Supper: Minestrone
We have achieved the first harvest and are on the way to the second one. Of these three autumn holidays, the first harvest, Lammas, is the harvest of grains and other field crops. Golden heads of wheat have reached their fullness, and as they fall to the scythe, we save the last grain as an offering for next year’s harvest. This is why it’s traditional to bake bread at Lammas, in parallel to the complimentary practice during the reflective, and mirroring, holiday of Candlemas. Just as in early February candles light the way for the strengthening sun, so now has the sun peaked and is in retreat. High summer has come and gone, and even though August has plenty of blazing heat and golden sunshine left, these arrive with hints of cooler times. A chill breeze ruffles the night time curtains and school supplies appear in the aisles, both to remind us that Labor Day is just weeks away.
In August, July’s relaxed vacation pace is skewered with an uptake in activity. There is still time to take a few last days off, but we use them to clean out the closets and start the canning. In our urban homes, fall housecleaning reflects the springtime practice. The first day the weather allows, we open windows and doors to admit the best of all cleaning products: a nice breeze. We rotate the mattresses, go through the closets for items to save, repair or donate, gear up for our annual Labor Day decorating project. Now that we’ve added Los Angeles to New York City as our home towns, we also use this time to take the car in for a tune-up. It is time to gather the mementoes from a summer’s worth of adventures for fall memory-keeping projects, and not too early to start thinking about putting up kitchen gifts so that they’ll be ready for the holidays.
We are products of nature, and as each season passes, I get more convinced of the profound influence that those ancient memories exert on us. It is not a coincidence that our pulse quickens as the earth turns towards the autumn equinox; it is the happening of a great truth. As winter wanes, attention turns to planting. In cold weather zones, seeds are started indoors as early as February, and in warmer climes, tenderlings are overwintered on patio stones for a couple of hours each day. As summer wanes, attention turns to harvesting. Canning supplies appear in both storefront and on stove top, and everything from the just baked loaf of bread to a new kitchen towel is stamped with the imprint of a golden head of wheat.
And just look at the garden now! Every day is a harvest. Farmers Markets and roadside stands burst with the exuberance of gardens that just keep yielding. These days are the season for fresh sweet corn, musky green beans, potatoes both creamy and starchy, sweet onions, assertive garlic, crisp peppers and bushels and bushels and bushels of zucchini and yellow squash. Some of this abundance is destined for the canning bath, from whence it will wait to enliven winter meals from Sunday suppers to weeknight dinners. But no cook and no eater can resist using the best of it for dinner tonight.
No food exemplifies the joys of the garden harvest better than a good vegetable soup. Grandma's vegetable soup was spooned up in thin streams or sopped up with a biscuit. The waitress at the diner asks "cup or bowl?" before slamming the answer down midstride along with the tuna salad sandwich that accompanies it. Vegetable soups can concentrate on a specific ingredient, from cream of asparagus to cream of watercress, from French onion to borscht. And they can concentrate on the entire harvest, which brings us to minestrone. Minestrone is an Italian vegetable soup laden with the best of the garden's output and woven together with a distinctively Mediterranean touch. Unlike a spring vegetable soup, where the tender first harvest is delicately balanced in a light suspension of broth and seasonings, as an autumn harvest soup, minestrone is exuberant and, yes, a bit loud. The vegetables tussle in a tomato broth bustling with herbs and rowdy with pasta. As with any vegetable soup, there is a lot of room for improvisation, but the fundamentals should remain the same: whatever veggies you harvest for your minestrone, this soup is based on a tomato stock that has been seasoned with herbs and Parmesan. I've provided my favorite combination of vegetables below, but the best way to make minestrone is to choose the best vegetables from your garden, the Farmers Market, the roadside stand, or the grocery store, and then use those. Though the recipe looks like a lot of bowls and steps, once you get going you will plug into this rhythm of cooking that is attuned to the rhythm of the season. That's true to the harvest, and to the honor of cooks who, since time immemorial, have expressed abundance by putting it into a soup pot.
MINESTRONE
You can get a Parmesan rind in the cheese case at a larger supermarket, at a cheese shop, or at a Mediterranean grocery. A Dutch oven is a vital cooking pot for every kitchen; it is worthwhile to make as much of an investment in one as you can; in our Urban Home we like Le Creuset and Martha Stewart. While this is not an appropriate soup for hot water bath or pressure canning, it freezes wonderfully in 8- or 16-ounce freezer jars.
1 medium yellow onion
4 medium carrots
3 stalks celery
2 medium zucchini
1 medium yellow squash
1 ear corn
1 medium leek
1 medium red bell pepper
1/2 pound baby Yukon Gold potatoes
4 medium cloves garlic
1 15-ounce can cannellini
1 quart canned tomatoes, or 1 28-ounce can Italian-pack diced tomatoes
1 cup chicken stock, home-made or low sodium canned
½ cup dry red wine, such as Chianti, Merlot or Pinot Noir
1 Parmesan rind
1/2 cup dried small cut pasta, such as ditalini or orzo
1 bunch fresh basil
3 sprigs fresh oregano
1 sprig fresh rosemary
1 fresh or dried bay leaf
1/2 teaspoon dried red pepper flakes
Salt (Greek sea salt works well)
Freshly ground black pepper
Extra-virgin olive oil
Prepare the vegetables
1. Position an in-sink colander into place.
2. Peel the onion and remove the root and stem ends. Place the onion on a clean cutting board reserved for vegetables. Halve the onion from root to stem; halve each half. Cut each quarter into thin crescents. Transfer the onion into the colander.
3.Rinse the celery and place the ribs lengthwise on the cutting board. Cut across the top and the bottom of the ribs to remove the calloused top and bottom of the stalks. Cut across the stalks to form crescents. Transfer the celery into the colander.
4. Use a peeler to peel each carrot. Working one at a time, cut off the top and bottom tip of each carrot; do not use the large, tough top of the vegetables. Cut across each carrot to form coins approximately ½ inch thick. Transfer the cut carrots to the colander.
3. Rinse the onions, celery and carrots under cool water. Leave in the colander to drain while you prepare the remainder of the vegetables.
4. Align the leeks side-by-side on a clean cutting board. Use a sharp knife to cut off and discard the root ends of the leeks. Moving up the body of the leeks, cut the white and pale green parts of the leeks into coins about 1/4" inch wide; stop when you get to the rough dark green upper leaves. Set the dark green upper leaves aside for composting or to clean and use for sachets des epices.
5. Transfer the white and pale green leek coins into a bowl. Do not worry if they are gritty. Cover the leeks with cold water and set the bowl aside. As you work, check the water every few minutes. When it is cloudy, empty the bowl of water by tilting it toward your hand and using your hand as a dam to keep the leeks from tumbling out. Refill with water and check again a few minutes later. Within two or three changes of water, the water should stay clear and the leeks will be clean of grit.
6. Place a few drops of vegetable cleaner into a large mixing bowl. Fill the bowl halfway with water. Add the squash, zucchini, red bell pepper and potatoes to the cleansing water. Swirl the vegetables around in the cleansing water.
7. Empty the bowl of the cleansing water and refill the bowl with fresh water. Leave the vegetables in the water as you work.
8. Remove the zucchini from the water. Place the zucchini on the cutting board. Cut and discard the stem and root ends of the zucchini. Cut the zucchini in half lengthwise. Cut across the halved zucchini to form half-moons approximately ½ inch thick. Transfer the cut zucchini into a bowl.
9. Remove the squash from the water. Place the squash on the cutting board. Cut and discard the stem and root ends of the squash. Cut the squash in half lengthwise. Cut across the halved squash to form half-moons approximately ½ inch thick. Transfer the cut squash into the bowl containing the zucchini.
10.Working one at a time, remove a potato from the water. Place the potato on the cutting board and cut it into coins ½ inch thick. Return the coins to the water.
11. Place the red pepper on the cutting board. Cut the pepper in half from cap to bottom. Cut away and discard the stem; cut away any pithy white from inside each half. Rinse each half under warm water to remove the seeds; if saving seeds for planting, do this step over a fine mesh sieve to catch the seeds. Cut off and discard the rounded top and bottom of each half and set aside. Flatten the remaining pepper, skin side down, against the cutting board. Cut each flattened half into 1/2-inch strips and cut across the strips to form 1/2-inch squares. Transfer the chopped red pepper to a small bowl.
12. Strip the ear of corn of its husk and silks. Rinse the corn under a stream of cool water to remove any stray silk. Stand the ear of corn on the cutting board, balancing the ear on the wide flat cut from the stalk. Use a sharp paring knife to cut the kernels from the top of the ear to its base. Do not cut kernels from any area that is dried or discolored. The kernels will fall off of the cob in strips. Transfer the kernels to the bowl containing the zucchini and the squash.
Make the soup
1. Place a large Dutch oven or stock pot onto the stove top. Drizzle the pot with a ten-count of extra-virgin olive oil.
2. Turn the heat to medium-high. Heat the olive oil until it shimmers.
3. Gently add the prepared carrots, celery, and onion to the olive oil. Sprinkle the vegetables with salt.
4. Use a silicone spatula or large wooden spoon to stir the vegetables and to coat them with the hot olive oil. Once you hear the vegetables start to sizzle, place the lid on the pot and reduce the heat to medium.
5. Cook the vegetables covered for ten minutes.
6. After ten minutes, remove the lid from the pot. Stir the vegetables. They should have begun to soften and to express their liquids. Add a drizzle of olive oil if the mixture is running dry.
7. Add the potatoes to the mixture in the pot. Sprinkle the vegetable mixture with salt. Stir the vegetables and place the lid back on the pot.
8. Cook the vegetables covered for ten minutes.
9. While the vegetables are cooking, use kitchen twine to tie the rosemary, oregano and bay leaf together.
10. Open the can of cannellini and empty it into a colander. Run the beans under cool water until the water runs clear. Place the colander into the sink to drain.
11. Empty the tomatoes into a large mixing bowl with a spout. Pour the stock into the jar or can that the tomatoes were packed in, and swirl the stock to get all of the tomato juice. Pour that mixture into the bowl with the tomatoes. Measure the wine into the tomato-stock mixture.
12. Roll the garlic cloves along the counter under your palm to loosen the garlic skins. Use a garlic press to press the garlic into the tomato-stock mixture. Add the crushed red pepper flakes to the tomato-stock-wine mixture. Use a wire whisk to mix the tomato-stock mixture together.
13. After ten minutes, remove the lid from the pot. Use the spatula / spoon to stir the vegetables. Add a drizzle of olive oil if the pot is running dry.
14. Add the cannellini, rinsed leeks, and bell pepper to the vegetables in the pot. Use the spatula / spoon to stir the mixture together.
15. Slowly pour the seasoned tomato-stock mixture into the pot. Use the spatula to get all of the mixture into the pot. Use the spatula / spoon to stir the mixture together.
16. Nestle the tied herbs and the Parmesan rind into the soup. Sprinkle the soup with several grindings of fresh black pepper.
17. Cover the pot and cook undisturbed for ½ hour.
18. After ½ hour, remove the lid from the pot and use the spatula / spoon to stir the mixture. The vegetables should be soft and the mixture should be very fragrant and flavorful.
19. Add the zucchini, yellow squash, corn and orzo to the soup. It is okay to add ½ cup water to the pot if the mixture is getting too thick.
20. Cover the pot and cook undisturbed for ½ hour.
21. After ½ hour, lift the lid and carefully taste the soup. The vegetables should be tender and the pasta cooked through to al dente. Adjust the soup for seasoning and if warranted, cook the soup for an additional five minutes.
Serve the soup
1. While the soup is cooking rinse the basil under cool water and set upside down in a colander or flat on paper towels to drain.
2. Once dry, strip the basil of its freshest leaves. Lay the leaves on top of each other and use a sharp knife to cut across the leaves to form strips.
3. When ready to serve the minestrone, garnish each bowl with a sprinkling of basil and several grindings of fresh black pepper.
In August, July’s relaxed vacation pace is skewered with an uptake in activity. There is still time to take a few last days off, but we use them to clean out the closets and start the canning. In our urban homes, fall housecleaning reflects the springtime practice. The first day the weather allows, we open windows and doors to admit the best of all cleaning products: a nice breeze. We rotate the mattresses, go through the closets for items to save, repair or donate, gear up for our annual Labor Day decorating project. Now that we’ve added Los Angeles to New York City as our home towns, we also use this time to take the car in for a tune-up. It is time to gather the mementoes from a summer’s worth of adventures for fall memory-keeping projects, and not too early to start thinking about putting up kitchen gifts so that they’ll be ready for the holidays.
We are products of nature, and as each season passes, I get more convinced of the profound influence that those ancient memories exert on us. It is not a coincidence that our pulse quickens as the earth turns towards the autumn equinox; it is the happening of a great truth. As winter wanes, attention turns to planting. In cold weather zones, seeds are started indoors as early as February, and in warmer climes, tenderlings are overwintered on patio stones for a couple of hours each day. As summer wanes, attention turns to harvesting. Canning supplies appear in both storefront and on stove top, and everything from the just baked loaf of bread to a new kitchen towel is stamped with the imprint of a golden head of wheat.
And just look at the garden now! Every day is a harvest. Farmers Markets and roadside stands burst with the exuberance of gardens that just keep yielding. These days are the season for fresh sweet corn, musky green beans, potatoes both creamy and starchy, sweet onions, assertive garlic, crisp peppers and bushels and bushels and bushels of zucchini and yellow squash. Some of this abundance is destined for the canning bath, from whence it will wait to enliven winter meals from Sunday suppers to weeknight dinners. But no cook and no eater can resist using the best of it for dinner tonight.
No food exemplifies the joys of the garden harvest better than a good vegetable soup. Grandma's vegetable soup was spooned up in thin streams or sopped up with a biscuit. The waitress at the diner asks "cup or bowl?" before slamming the answer down midstride along with the tuna salad sandwich that accompanies it. Vegetable soups can concentrate on a specific ingredient, from cream of asparagus to cream of watercress, from French onion to borscht. And they can concentrate on the entire harvest, which brings us to minestrone. Minestrone is an Italian vegetable soup laden with the best of the garden's output and woven together with a distinctively Mediterranean touch. Unlike a spring vegetable soup, where the tender first harvest is delicately balanced in a light suspension of broth and seasonings, as an autumn harvest soup, minestrone is exuberant and, yes, a bit loud. The vegetables tussle in a tomato broth bustling with herbs and rowdy with pasta. As with any vegetable soup, there is a lot of room for improvisation, but the fundamentals should remain the same: whatever veggies you harvest for your minestrone, this soup is based on a tomato stock that has been seasoned with herbs and Parmesan. I've provided my favorite combination of vegetables below, but the best way to make minestrone is to choose the best vegetables from your garden, the Farmers Market, the roadside stand, or the grocery store, and then use those. Though the recipe looks like a lot of bowls and steps, once you get going you will plug into this rhythm of cooking that is attuned to the rhythm of the season. That's true to the harvest, and to the honor of cooks who, since time immemorial, have expressed abundance by putting it into a soup pot.
MINESTRONE
You can get a Parmesan rind in the cheese case at a larger supermarket, at a cheese shop, or at a Mediterranean grocery. A Dutch oven is a vital cooking pot for every kitchen; it is worthwhile to make as much of an investment in one as you can; in our Urban Home we like Le Creuset and Martha Stewart. While this is not an appropriate soup for hot water bath or pressure canning, it freezes wonderfully in 8- or 16-ounce freezer jars.
1 medium yellow onion
4 medium carrots
3 stalks celery
2 medium zucchini
1 medium yellow squash
1 ear corn
1 medium leek
1 medium red bell pepper
1/2 pound baby Yukon Gold potatoes
4 medium cloves garlic
1 15-ounce can cannellini
1 quart canned tomatoes, or 1 28-ounce can Italian-pack diced tomatoes
1 cup chicken stock, home-made or low sodium canned
½ cup dry red wine, such as Chianti, Merlot or Pinot Noir
1 Parmesan rind
1/2 cup dried small cut pasta, such as ditalini or orzo
1 bunch fresh basil
3 sprigs fresh oregano
1 sprig fresh rosemary
1 fresh or dried bay leaf
1/2 teaspoon dried red pepper flakes
Salt (Greek sea salt works well)
Freshly ground black pepper
Extra-virgin olive oil
Prepare the vegetables
1. Position an in-sink colander into place.
2. Peel the onion and remove the root and stem ends. Place the onion on a clean cutting board reserved for vegetables. Halve the onion from root to stem; halve each half. Cut each quarter into thin crescents. Transfer the onion into the colander.
3.Rinse the celery and place the ribs lengthwise on the cutting board. Cut across the top and the bottom of the ribs to remove the calloused top and bottom of the stalks. Cut across the stalks to form crescents. Transfer the celery into the colander.
4. Use a peeler to peel each carrot. Working one at a time, cut off the top and bottom tip of each carrot; do not use the large, tough top of the vegetables. Cut across each carrot to form coins approximately ½ inch thick. Transfer the cut carrots to the colander.
3. Rinse the onions, celery and carrots under cool water. Leave in the colander to drain while you prepare the remainder of the vegetables.
4. Align the leeks side-by-side on a clean cutting board. Use a sharp knife to cut off and discard the root ends of the leeks. Moving up the body of the leeks, cut the white and pale green parts of the leeks into coins about 1/4" inch wide; stop when you get to the rough dark green upper leaves. Set the dark green upper leaves aside for composting or to clean and use for sachets des epices.
5. Transfer the white and pale green leek coins into a bowl. Do not worry if they are gritty. Cover the leeks with cold water and set the bowl aside. As you work, check the water every few minutes. When it is cloudy, empty the bowl of water by tilting it toward your hand and using your hand as a dam to keep the leeks from tumbling out. Refill with water and check again a few minutes later. Within two or three changes of water, the water should stay clear and the leeks will be clean of grit.
6. Place a few drops of vegetable cleaner into a large mixing bowl. Fill the bowl halfway with water. Add the squash, zucchini, red bell pepper and potatoes to the cleansing water. Swirl the vegetables around in the cleansing water.
7. Empty the bowl of the cleansing water and refill the bowl with fresh water. Leave the vegetables in the water as you work.
8. Remove the zucchini from the water. Place the zucchini on the cutting board. Cut and discard the stem and root ends of the zucchini. Cut the zucchini in half lengthwise. Cut across the halved zucchini to form half-moons approximately ½ inch thick. Transfer the cut zucchini into a bowl.
9. Remove the squash from the water. Place the squash on the cutting board. Cut and discard the stem and root ends of the squash. Cut the squash in half lengthwise. Cut across the halved squash to form half-moons approximately ½ inch thick. Transfer the cut squash into the bowl containing the zucchini.
10.Working one at a time, remove a potato from the water. Place the potato on the cutting board and cut it into coins ½ inch thick. Return the coins to the water.
11. Place the red pepper on the cutting board. Cut the pepper in half from cap to bottom. Cut away and discard the stem; cut away any pithy white from inside each half. Rinse each half under warm water to remove the seeds; if saving seeds for planting, do this step over a fine mesh sieve to catch the seeds. Cut off and discard the rounded top and bottom of each half and set aside. Flatten the remaining pepper, skin side down, against the cutting board. Cut each flattened half into 1/2-inch strips and cut across the strips to form 1/2-inch squares. Transfer the chopped red pepper to a small bowl.
12. Strip the ear of corn of its husk and silks. Rinse the corn under a stream of cool water to remove any stray silk. Stand the ear of corn on the cutting board, balancing the ear on the wide flat cut from the stalk. Use a sharp paring knife to cut the kernels from the top of the ear to its base. Do not cut kernels from any area that is dried or discolored. The kernels will fall off of the cob in strips. Transfer the kernels to the bowl containing the zucchini and the squash.
Make the soup
1. Place a large Dutch oven or stock pot onto the stove top. Drizzle the pot with a ten-count of extra-virgin olive oil.
2. Turn the heat to medium-high. Heat the olive oil until it shimmers.
3. Gently add the prepared carrots, celery, and onion to the olive oil. Sprinkle the vegetables with salt.
4. Use a silicone spatula or large wooden spoon to stir the vegetables and to coat them with the hot olive oil. Once you hear the vegetables start to sizzle, place the lid on the pot and reduce the heat to medium.
5. Cook the vegetables covered for ten minutes.
6. After ten minutes, remove the lid from the pot. Stir the vegetables. They should have begun to soften and to express their liquids. Add a drizzle of olive oil if the mixture is running dry.
7. Add the potatoes to the mixture in the pot. Sprinkle the vegetable mixture with salt. Stir the vegetables and place the lid back on the pot.
8. Cook the vegetables covered for ten minutes.
9. While the vegetables are cooking, use kitchen twine to tie the rosemary, oregano and bay leaf together.
10. Open the can of cannellini and empty it into a colander. Run the beans under cool water until the water runs clear. Place the colander into the sink to drain.
11. Empty the tomatoes into a large mixing bowl with a spout. Pour the stock into the jar or can that the tomatoes were packed in, and swirl the stock to get all of the tomato juice. Pour that mixture into the bowl with the tomatoes. Measure the wine into the tomato-stock mixture.
12. Roll the garlic cloves along the counter under your palm to loosen the garlic skins. Use a garlic press to press the garlic into the tomato-stock mixture. Add the crushed red pepper flakes to the tomato-stock-wine mixture. Use a wire whisk to mix the tomato-stock mixture together.
13. After ten minutes, remove the lid from the pot. Use the spatula / spoon to stir the vegetables. Add a drizzle of olive oil if the pot is running dry.
14. Add the cannellini, rinsed leeks, and bell pepper to the vegetables in the pot. Use the spatula / spoon to stir the mixture together.
15. Slowly pour the seasoned tomato-stock mixture into the pot. Use the spatula to get all of the mixture into the pot. Use the spatula / spoon to stir the mixture together.
16. Nestle the tied herbs and the Parmesan rind into the soup. Sprinkle the soup with several grindings of fresh black pepper.
17. Cover the pot and cook undisturbed for ½ hour.
18. After ½ hour, remove the lid from the pot and use the spatula / spoon to stir the mixture. The vegetables should be soft and the mixture should be very fragrant and flavorful.
19. Add the zucchini, yellow squash, corn and orzo to the soup. It is okay to add ½ cup water to the pot if the mixture is getting too thick.
20. Cover the pot and cook undisturbed for ½ hour.
21. After ½ hour, lift the lid and carefully taste the soup. The vegetables should be tender and the pasta cooked through to al dente. Adjust the soup for seasoning and if warranted, cook the soup for an additional five minutes.
Serve the soup
1. While the soup is cooking rinse the basil under cool water and set upside down in a colander or flat on paper towels to drain.
2. Once dry, strip the basil of its freshest leaves. Lay the leaves on top of each other and use a sharp knife to cut across the leaves to form strips.
3. When ready to serve the minestrone, garnish each bowl with a sprinkling of basil and several grindings of fresh black pepper.
Comments
Post a Comment