Recipe: Improvising Your Own Minestrone

IMPROVISING YOUR OWN MINESTRONE

"Free yourself from recipes by understanding how to improvise your own minestrones. Farmhouse cooks do this all the time-it's the essence of day-to-day home cooking. Take the variety of vegetables available, apply a little imagination and create a supper for the family. Anyone can cook this way once the basic principles are laid out."

THE PRINCIPLES
In minestrone, vegetables cook until they are soft. The soup's character can be enriched by sauteing some of the ingredients in one of two different ways. Minestrone is always finished with a final seasoning at the end of cooking, or at the table.

THE VEGETABLE BLEND:
Simmer together a collection of vegetables with herbs until they almost melt into each other, and you have minestrone. The blend always includes but isn't limited to beans, potato, squash, leafy greens, cabbage of some sort, a generous amount of onion and herbs.

WATER OR BROTH:
Frugal country cooks usually don't waste precious stock when a soup's ingredients give up so much flavor on their own, as in minestrone. I agree. Use water. Save the broth for where you can really taste it.

HOW LONG TO COOK AND COOKING AHEAD:
Simmer the soup from 45 minutes to 1 1/2 hours-long enough for the flavors to meld. With ever-changing ingredients, taste always tells the tale. Keep tasting and you will know when the soup has reached its peak of flavor. Minestrone is even better the second and third day. Store covered in the refrigerator.

WAYS OF ADDING DEPTH AND DIMENSION TO MINESTRONE:

- A saute for bold depth:
Browning some of the vegetables and herbs in a little olive oil makes the minestrone taste richer. Almost anything works - leftover onion, chopped cabbage, the odd carrot, broccoli stems, lettuce leaves, kale or chard, garlic, sage, rosemary, bay leaves and so on. For even richer flavor, include a few ounces of cured meat, like pancetta, coppa or salami. The later in cooking that you add the saute, the bolder the soup tastes.

- A saute for gentler character:
Vary the saute technique for gentler depth. Begin the minestrone by filming the bottom of the soup pot with olive oil and adding the vegetables and herbs. Stew them covered over low heat until everything softens and is releasing its juices-about 30 minutes. Then add the water and simmer the soup.

ADDING RICE OR PASTA:
Rice or small pastas like ditalini, semi di meloni, stelle, orzo or broken spaghetti can be cooked into minestrone. Count on about 15 minutes of simmering for the pasta, 30 to 40 minutes for rice.

TRICKS FOR RESCUING BLAND MINESTRONES:
- A piece of Parmigiano-Reggiano rind in the soup makes the flavors bigger.
- Prosciutto skin or salt pork rind give body and richness to the soup.
- Tomatoes, even two or three in a big pot, counteract blandness.
- A generous pinch of hot red pepper flakes lifts flavors without detectable heat.
- Add herbs at two different times. Use some in the beginning of cooking to lay a foundation of tastes. Stir in more in the last 10 or 20 minutes of cooking to brighten and focus flavors. Be generous with fresh herbs, especially mild ones like basil.

THE FINAL SEASONING:
Minestrone always gets a final seasoning at the end of cooking, or at the table. A final seasoning is like a cheerleader; it rallies together all the elements of the soup. Some regional cooks have their favorites. Try each of them and see which you like best.

- Ligurian cooks stir in pesto a fabulous finish. The soup's heat releases all the fragrance of the uncooked basil, garlic and cheese. I add a chopped up medium-sized fresh tomato too when they're in season. Vary the pesto idea by blending garlic, oil, and cheese with herbs other than basil-for example sage, rosemary, or marjoram.
- In Tuscany, Umbria, and Marche, each diner adds a little olive oil and freshly ground black pepper at the table.
- Just about everyone likes grated Parmigiano-Reggiano in his or her minestrone at one time or another

Source: The Italian Country Table by Lynne Rossetto Kasper