Italian Classic Minestrone Soup

Veggie Minestrone is the quintessence of Soup! An incredible mix of vegetables, to fill up with vitamins and get a natural cleansing effect

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Today, I want to give you an easy and basic version to obtain a tasty and balanced Minestrone. A light recipe easy to prepare: perfect to detoxify in the days following the holidays.

The Origins of Minestrone Soup

For Italians, Minestrone Soup is a pillar of food with really ancient origins. Also Romans, as recently discovered by Pompeii archeologists, used to prepare a rough version of this dish.

Indeed the origin of the word Minestrone comes from the Latin “minestrare“, which indicates the action of distributing food at the table accomplished by those who cooked the dish. The word alone brings to mind the scent of genuine things, happy moments, and family warmth.
It is a great classic of the Italian tradition that has always seen mothers and grandmothers as protagonists. The recipe is, in fact, one of the many handed down from family to family.
I myself have memories of my grandmother while she cooked this exceptional soup with every type of vegetable we had at home!

A concentration of well-being against seasonal illnesses

One of the most important aspects of Minestrone Soup is that it is a light and healthy dish. It is also naturally low in fat, and for this reason, it’s recommended in most diets.

I use to eat it at least once a week, to depurate my body and to load up on healthy and nutritious ingredients.

In the first place, minestrone is very rich in vitamins, minerals, and proteins that protect the body from seasonal diseases. Secondarily, it contains tons of vitamin A found in carrots, parsley, zucchini, tomatoes, spinach, and basil. Moreover is also rich in B vitamins, important for metabolism, and helps in the intake of vitamin C through broccoli, cabbage, and onions. Finally, as is well known, vegetables give a sense of satiety useful when we want to stay on a diet. This is why a perfect recipe for detoxing and losing weight.

For an Ultradietary Version

To obtain an enveloping and rich taste on your Minestrone, you’ll need to choose a wide variety of vegetables. The more these will be varied and colorful, and the more the dish result will be a success!

For an unparalleled purifying and dietary effect, do not sauteing or brown onions. Simply cook the chosen vegetables in water.

Just add a little salt (not too much) because the vegetables, during cooking, will release all their flavors of vegetable broth.

And to get a satiating and healthy one-meal dish, you can complete your minestrone with a dose and your favorite legumes. Lentils, beans, or chickpeas will give your soup the right amount of protein and a touch of creaminess to your dish!

My Gourmet version

If you want to give a gourmet touch to your Minestrone Soup and bring it to the table like a Chef, a good option is to replace the onion with the leek or even better with the shallot.
Then there are some ingredients that, if added to your soup, will give it an extra edge:

• Black cabbage
• Dried Champignon and Porcini Mushrooms
• Pumpkin or Sweet Potato
• Celeriac

As mentioned, this recipe is really versatile and lends itself to the most disparate reinterpretations. You can introduce variants of legumes and vegetables that change according to the season. Equally, you can enrich your Minestrone by adding pasta, rice or whole grains.
Another tasty alternative, that is one of my favorites, especially during the winter, is to enrich the soup with croutons toasted in a pan with butter and garlic. A real treat!

To reduce cooking times, Minestrone is a perfect recipe to cook in the Pressure Cooker or with an Instant Pot. After covering the vegetables with water, close the pot and cook for 20 minutes (from the moment the valve starts to whistle).

How to make your children eat Minestrone

Minestrone is known to be the number one enemy of most children. But if you want to make your children love it, I have some small suggestions.

Balance the ingredients well and add more vegetables that your children usually eat. Then add even to a slightly lesser extent those “tough” vegetables such as cabbage and broccoli.

A trick to make the soup more palatable to the little ones is to add a few tablespoons of tomato paste. Doing so will have a sweeter and more pleasant taste.

Finally, if your children really don’t want to know about eating the hateful vegetables, blend your minestrone with an immersion blender. The result will be velvety and creamy. Your children will love it!

How to store Minestrone Soup

Minestrone is excellent both eaten immediately and hot or cold or lukewarm. It can be stored in the refrigerator in hermetically sealed containers.

But be careful, if among the ingredients you have used the potato, consume the soup within the next day, otherwise the potato will release acids and spoil.

If, on the other hand, you have not used potatoes or legumes, you can keep the minestrone up to 3 or 4 days always in the refrigerator.

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Do you want to get inspiration for more healthy and dietary recipes?

Check out these amazing recipes:

• Easy & Healthy Homemade Granola
• Oven Roasted Asparagine with Avocado Cream
• 4 Body Cleansing Detox Water

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