Recipe: Minestrone alla Milanese

Minestrone alla Milanese

1 1/2 cups dried kidney beans
3 to 4 cloves garlic
1 large onion, chopped
5 Tbsp olive oil
3 large potatoes, pale and clean-skinned
2 carrots
5 to 6 medium zucchini
1 to 1 1/2 cups cut string beans
3 to 4 medium leeks, sliced (about 1/2 cup)
salt and pepper to taste
fresh parsley, chopped
large pinch of celery seeds
1 to 2 tsp basil
1 tsp oregano
large pinch of marjoram
1/2 head savoy cabbage
1/2 cup long-grain rice
6 to 7 tomatoes
1 cup grated low-fat parmesan cheese

Soak the beans overnight in enough water to keep them covered, then drain them and put them in a giant kettle (2-gallon or larger) with 4 quarts of water. Add the garlic cloves (peeled and put through a press), the onion, and the olive oil. Simmer the beans for about 1 1/2 hours.

Choose 3 large potatoes with healthy skins and scrub them thoroughly under running water. Cut them into large pieces, without peeling, and add them to the pot. Slice thickly the carrots and zucchini and add them also, together with the cut string beans and sliced leeks. Season with some salt and pepper, a little chopped parsley, a good pinch of celery seed, some basil, oregano, and a pinch of marjoram. Simmer again for about 45 minutes.

Slice thinly half a small head of savoy cabbage and add it to the soup along with the rice. If you can get the large, beautiful rice of the Lombardy region of Italy, you will truly have Minestrone alla Milanese. After adding the rice, simmer the soup another 20 minutes. If it is getting too thick for your taste, add a little more water as needed.

About 5 minutes before the soup is ready to serve, add the tomatoes (cut into large wedges), the Parmesan cheese, and a little more fresh parsley.

Serve steaming hot with a good whole-grain bread or muffin and more parmesan cheese if desired.

Serves "at least a dozen people."
Adapted from The New Vegetarian Epicure by Anna Thomas