Minestrone Italian Vegetable Soup
Submitted by Joanne Carroccio
From "The Classic Italian Cookbook” by Marcella Hazan. My father-in-law, Charles Carroccio, enjoyed this very much.
Ingredients
1/2 cup of olive oil
2 tbsp. of butter
1 cup of thinly sliced yellow onion
1 cup of diced carrots
1 cup of diced celery
2 cups of peeled, diced tomatoes
1 1/2 cup of fresh white beans (or canned cannellini beans)
2 cups of diced zucchini
1 cup of diced green beans
3 cups of shredded cabbage
2 cups of canned beef broth mixed with 4 cups of water
The crust from a 1-2 lb piece of parmesan cheese, scraped and cleaned
2/3 cup of canned Italian tomatoes, with juice
1/3 cup of freshly grated parmesan cheese
Directions
Choose a stockpot large enough for all the ingredients and put in the oil, butter, and sliced onion, and cook over medium-low heat until onion wilts and is pale gold, but not browned
Add the diced carrots and cook for 2-3 minutes, stirring once or twice
Repeat this procedure with the celery, potatoes, white beans (if using fresh), zucchini, and green beans, cooking each one a few minutes and stirring
Add shredded cabbage and cook for about 6 minutes, giving the pot an occasional stir
Add broth, the cheese crust, the tomatoes and their juice, and a little bit of salt
Cover and cook at a very slow boil for at least 3 hours. If necessary, you can stop the cooking at any time and resume it later on (should be cooked until soupy thick)
Fifteen minutes before the soup is done, add the canned or cooked dry beans (if not using fresh ones)
Just before turning off the heat, remove the cheese crust, swirl in the grated cheese, then taste and correct as needed
Minestrone is even better the next day and keeps up to a week in the refrigerator.