Minestrone di Verdure
Mop up dollops of pesto swimming atop of a flavorful broth with toasted sourdough for a bite reminiscent of a rustic garlic bread
We’ve been lucky with mostly sunny days in Brooklyn this March, but on those rainy and drafty ones, I turn to this minestrone. I know my clients long for something refreshing that assures them that summer is coming soon but still crave the comfort of a warm bowl of carefully prepared soup.
I developed this recipe for Greta Gerwig, who loves Italian food, particularly rosemary, but needs light meals to keep her energy up through busy days. The ingredients are within arm’s reach: carrot, onion, potato, celery, and cannellini beans, but the broth is elevated with a smoked ham hock and the rind of the Parmigiano Reggiano that you'll use to make the pesto. There is no food waste in this kitchen!
If you are left with extra pesto, it’s great for tossing with your favorite dry pasta, spring vegetables, and greens or draping over ricotta ravioli the following evening. My clients used the pesto to sauce homemade flatbread pizzas, and their kids took part in topping them with burrata, morels, and arugula they found at their local co-op. I make this basil pesto recipe for nearly any application. Last night, I used the last of their pesto jar to spread on ACQ pullman sourdough layering sliced sous vide turkey breast, fresh mozzarella, confit piquillo peppers, Lani’s farm arugula drizzled with balsamic and seared the sandwiches like a grilled cheese. I value making everything in its most authentic form and love to pound a traditional Genovese pesto in a mortar and pestle to release maximum flavor. I must admit that my food processor is essential when preparing pesto in large quantities. To follow an authentic order, it's crucial to blitz the garlic and toasted pine nuts with a pinch of fleur de sel first into a paste, then add the blanched basil. While on the line at King restaurant, I learned to add a splash of cold water before adding the olive oil, which will brighten the color of the pesto to a gorgeous sage hue. At Ballymaloe Cooking School, they emphasized the importance of folding in the freshly grated parmesan as the final step to brighten the color of the sauce further and yield an ideal texture that clings to whatever the pesto is enjoyed with. After jarring, add a thick layer of olive oil to keep the pesto fresh.
Just when you think this dish couldn’t have enough garlic, I sautéed the vegetables in confit garlic oil. I prepare this on days when we don’t have deliveries, and it’s almost always in my fridge. Everyone has their preferred technique for making confit garlic; I simply add whole-cored garlic cloves (I’m a stickler about removing the germ in every clove of garlic we cook with) to a baking dish, cover with olive oil and a pinch of fleur de sel and let sit in a 225 F oven until the cloves are golden and soft. If you’re short on time, it’s optional, but it does deepen and richen the soup's flavor. As a shortcut, you can simmer the sliced garlic in olive oil until golden before adding the vegetables to get an aromatic base.
Homemade bone broth is gone nearly as quickly as I finish jarring it in my kitchen. The only bone broth I trust in supermarkets is the frozen bonafide organic chicken bone broth, which is excellent and gelatinous but quite expensive. To bulk up the soup without purchasing too much broth, I simmer dried cannellini beans and fold the beans and their broth into the soup to finish. The bean broth is incredibly flavorful thanks to its aromatics and gives the soup viscosity.
The best part about this soup is mopping up dollops of pesto swimming atop a flavorful broth with toasted sourdough for a bite reminiscent of rustic garlic bread. I hope to make this somewhere where I can grill the bread over an open fire and dip it for the ultimate early spring treat.
Ingredients
Confit Garlic Oil
Garlic cloves, germ removed
Extra-virgin olive oil
Fleur de sel
Cannellini Beans
Dry cannellini beans
Fresh rosemary sprig
Fresh thyme sprig
Extra-virgin olive oil
Whole red chili
Fleur de sel
Basil Pesto
15oz pesto (essentially, a ton)
1 cup pine nuts
3-4 garlic cloves
Fleur de sel
Extra-virgin olive oil
Parmigiano Reggiano, finely grated on a microplane
Minestrone di Verdure
2 yellow onions, diced small
4-6 celery stalks, halved then sliced
4-6 carrots, halved, then sliced
6 cloves garlic, sliced thin (I use a mandoline)
6-8 Yukon gold or other sturdy golden potatoes, diced into large chunks (keep in cold water to prevent browning while prepping)
Large cabbage, cored and cut into big chunks
6 pints of chicken bone broth (4 bags of bonafide chicken bone broth)
Sprig rosemary
Sprig thyme
Parmiggano Reggiano rind
Smoked ham hock (source from your local butch)
Fleur de sel
Cannellini beans and their broth
Basil pesto
Best sourdough you can get (right now, I’m loving ACQ in Carroll Gardens and we get a loaf that the Greenmarket on Sundays)
Recipe
Confit Garlic Oil
Combine garlic, olive oil, and a pinch of fleur de sel in a baking dish and add to a 225 F oven for a couple of hours until the garlic is soft and golden. Keep it in a glass jar in the fridge for up to 2 weeks, or freeze it in an ice cube tray.
Cannellini Beans
Add dried cannellini beans (soak overnight if you’re short on time), rosemary sprig, thyme sprig, and whole red chili to a pot and cover with cold water by about 4-5 inches. Sprinkle some fleur de sel and coat with glugs of extra-virgin olive oil. Bring to a boil, then down to a simmer, and let simmer for a few hours, stirring frequently and tasting as the beans look cooked. Once you’ve tasted at least 3 beans and they’re finished transfer the beans a large pan to cool in their liquid. Taste and adjust with more salt to your liking. Remove rosemary sprig, thyme sprig, and chili before pouring into the minestrone.
Basil Pesto
Pick leaves from the stem into a large bowl while you bring a pot of water to boil. Set up an ice bath nearby. Blanch your basil leaves briefly before transferring them to an ice bath and working in batches. Squeeze out the water from each bunch of basil and set aside.
Gently toast pine nuts until soft and golden and add to the food processor with garlic and a pinch of fleur de sel, blitz to form a paste. Add your blanched basil and blitz until the basil is broken into the pine nut garlic paste. Slowly stream a little cold water bit by bit until the color brightens and the water helps the basil break apart further. Now, slowly stream in olive oil until it forms a basil-like sauce. Taste, and add more olive oil to taste if needed, then gently fold in Parmigiano Reggiano to taste. Adjust fleur de sel and any other seasonings to your liking.
Jar and cover with a thick layer of extra virgin olive oil to keep it fresh. Basil pesto will keep in the fridge for 2 weeks or in the freezer for 6 months.
Minestrone di Verdure
Warm confit garlic oil in a large pot. Once warm, add onions, carrots, celery, garlic, a sprig of rosemary, a sprig of thyme, and fleur de sel to taste, tossing in the oil to coat. Cover with a cartouche to steam and soften the vegetables while on low heat.
After a couple of minutes, stir in chopped cabbage, tossing it to coat it in the oil so it cooks down a bit. Add the diced potatoes, a bit more salt, then the parm rind and ham hock, and pour over the chicken bone broth. Bring to a boil, then simmer for about 20 minutes. Taste and adjust the seasoning to your liking. Stir in beans and their broth to taste.
Set in another pan to cool evenly. Once the soup is at room temperature, remove the woody herbs, parm rind, and ham hock. The soup will keep up to four days in the fridge.
To serve, warm the soup in a saucepan and toast torn or sliced bread until golden. Top soup with excessive dollops of basil pesto, and get dipping, swirling & slurping.
