Every year, I eagerly await the arrival of autumn to prepare this minestrone, more like a ritual marking the beginning of the new season. Since soups and broths, with a few exceptions, have been casually categorized as “culinary traumas from my childhood,” I have stubbornly tried to avoid them in adulthood. However, minestrone at the onset of autumn, with its richness of colors and flavors, has found its place among those rare exceptions. The preparation is always accompanied by a similarly ritualistic visit to the farmers market, where the quantity of vegetables and fruits purchased is always greater than planned.
Autumn, being the most generous of seasons in this regard, surely bodes well. Each time, minestrone transforms into my autumnal journey through Italy, a trip I have perhaps postponed too long each year. Over the past four years, I’ve remade it, using a variety of vegetables as inspiration struck me in the moment. For this year’s version, I used:
pancetta
red onion
2 small carrots
celery
parsnip
a leek
3 garlic cloves
a few sprigs of basil
After chopping and sautéing all of the above in olive oil, I added:
one zucchini, sliced
tomato passata
chicken stock
cooked cannellini beans
a handful of broken pasta pieces
In the end, I served the minestrone by adding some strips of aged parmesan, a few leaves of aromatic herbs (tarragon, basil), and two or three drops of aged balsamic vinegar directly into the bowl.
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