Minestrone

A recipe from cooking-ez.com

For 6 people, you will need:

• 1 200 g white beans
• 2 200 g peas
• 3 4 spring onions (scallions)
• 4 2 tomatoes
• 5 200 g green beans
• 6 2 courgettes
• 7 2 carrots
• 8 2 turnips
• 9 2 potatoes
• 10 200 g green asparagus spears
• 11 6 tablespoons olive oil
• 12 2 litres water
• 13 2 chicken stock cubes
• 14 salt
• 15 pepper
• Total weight: 4,970 grams

Times:

Preparation	Cooking	Start to finish
2 hours 20 min.	1 hour 15 min.	3 hours 30 min.

Step by step recipe

• 1: The day before, put 200 g white beans to soak overnight if you are using dried beans. For fresh ones this isn't necessary.
• 2: Shell 200 g peas, or use frozen ones.
• 3: Peel, wash and chop 4 spring onions (scallions).
• 4: Peel 2 tomatoes and cut into quarters.
• 5: Wash 200 g green beans, cut off the ends and cut into pieces.
• 6: Prepare 2 courgettes in small pieces.
• 7: Peel and wash 2 carrots, 2 turnips and 2 potatoes, cut into small pieces.
• 8: Peel and boil 200 g green asparagus spears in salted water until just tender, but still with some crunch.
• 9: Throw away the water that the beans have soaked in and replace with salted water, Boil until they are cooked but still slightly firm.
  Drain.
• 10: Pour 6 tablespoons olive oil into a large pan over medium heat. When hot, add the chopped onions, salt, pepper and cook while stirring for 1 minute.
  Add the turnips, carrots and potatoes. Stir to mix well.
• 11: Add the courgettes, haricot beans, green beans and asparagus. Stir to mix well and cook together for 5 minutes, stirring from time to time.
  This preliminary cooking of the vegetables in oil is important to add flavour to the minestrone.
• 12: Moisten with 2 litres water and add 2 chicken stock cubes.
  Bring to the boil, then turn down the heat and leave to simmer gently until all the vegetables are well cooked.
• 13: Then add the tomatoes, check seasoning and leave to cook for a further 10 minutes.
• 14: Serve hot on its own, or accompanied by slices of toasted bread spread with pesto, or a little grated Parmesan.

Remarks

Ideally a minestrone should include at least 5 vegetables, but they can be any you choose, so you can vary this recipe in both ingredients and proportions.
You can also add a cupful of rice along with the vegetables. There are those who consider that this should replace the haricot beans, but I think it's good with both.
Minestrone is even better reheated the following day.

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