This is my third WFD diary based off of a recipe from “Lidia’s Italian-American Kitchen”, by Lidia Bastianich (and there’s at least a couple more, that I’d also like to eventually do diaries for... so, just for yuks- I thought I’d share what my copy of this book looks like):
Alrighty- onto the recipe: it’s a vegetarian variation (to accommodate my vegetarian husband) of Lidia’s minestrone soup. The recipe at this link is pretty close to the version in the printed cookbook, but it’s missing a few things… i.e., one interesting little tidbit from the cookbook-
Sprinkling the onions with salt as they cook not only seasons them, but extracts some of the water and intensifies their flavor.
And she explains in another recipe (in which tomatoes are salted, to create a tomato sauce), the difference from using coarse grained salt (which she likewise recommends for cooking the onions in the minestrone):
The melting of salt is a chemical reaction that draws the liquid from the tomatoes. The larger the salt crystal, the more liquid it will draw out.
And another detail missing from the online version, is what I think of as the soup’s “secret sauce” (a basil paste, added as a finishing dressing- hence the basil & cheese among the ingredients below, that aren’t in the online recipe):
From left to right-
Salt: Kosher, as it’s the closest I happen to have to sea salt, in terms of the large crystal size.
Vegetable Broth: The recipe specifies 5 quarts of water for the soup base, but I use 3 quarts of vegetable broth instead (because I prefer for the soup to be less watery…)
Veggie Bacon: I use a package of Yves’s Canadian fake bacon, in lieu of the smoked pork.
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Bay Leaves
Onions
Garlic: I use pre-chopped jarred garlic rather than fresh, mostly for convenience (and I don’t think it compromises the end result too severely).
Zucchini
Carrots
Celery: With the leaves, as they help to flavor the soup stock.
Sweet Potatoes: Lidia’s recipe calls for regular Idaho potatoes, but I prefer the taste of sweet potatoes, so I generally make this substitution (& she also directly states on the page of the online recipe, “This is a basic recipe, but do feel free to substitute your favorite vegetables.”) 😄
Cabbage
Electronic Device: If you happen to have an adolescent child, who sometimes likes to help with cooking, but at other times, might not… (but I can assure you- this soup is so delicious, it’s well worth the “screen time”).
Basil: I’ve found that if I’m lucky enough to score some basil at peak freshness, it can last pretty well, stored like flowers (ends cut off, & kept in water. I’ve sometimes even seen the stems sprout roots…)
Parmigiano-Reggiano (and Romano): Lidia’s recipe only has the former, but I like to mix the two, since I’m fond of the intensity of romano.
Small-Sized Pasta: She suggests ditalini or tubettini, and here I’ve used farfellini (I’ve made this soup with many different small shapes, and it really doesn’t matter- any small pasta will do, so I usually just pick one at random).
Canned Tomatoes
Chickpeas
And now, the preparation:
First the salted onions are sautéed in olive oil for 4 minutes, and then the garlic is added & sautéed with the onions, for 5 minutes. Next in are the canned tomatoes and the bay leaves, & all brought to a boil.
Then I put in the zucchini, carrots, celery, and sweet potato, and boil them in the tomatoes, onions & garlic for 5 minutes (in Lidia’s recipe the zucchini are added a later stage in the cooking, but I prefer for the zucchini to cook longer, because I find zucchini so bland that I’d rather it absorb more of whatever it’s in). Then reduce the heat to a simmer, add the cabbage, and cook for another 5 minutes.
Next I add the soup broth & bring it to a boil, and then put in the chickpeas, and veggie bacon. Then the pasta is added, & boiled in the soup for however long its cooking time is. Lastly, the basil paste- made by blending roughly equal amounts (about a half cup each works well for this amount of soup) of the basil & the grated cheeses (with some olive oil and soup broth, to make the blending easier).
And it goes in the soup…
And the soup is eaten! Buon Appetito!