This is a soup that I started making primarily based upon product on hand. I wanted to make a nice vegetable soup, but wanted a slightly different take on a classic minestrone. I opted for a Mediterranean skew because I had the chick peas, fennel, and peppers on hand. With a soup like this there any number of variations you can do. The vegetables are always up for a change, though I like to vary my colors, textures, and shapes to give it a unique feel. The pasta is also something you can change as mini shells, ditalini, really any small soup sized noodle can be used.
When I make a soup like this, one of the things I like to do is blanch a portion of the vegetables off in the cooking broth instead of while simmering. The two fold benefit of this is that you can enhance your broth with the vegetables you are cooking, and secondly you retain a crunchy texture to your soup while still being soft. Do not add the pasta to the soup for storage as over time it will soak up the broth, loose it's texture, and shorten the lifespan of the soup.
Ingredients
Vegetable Stock 1 qt
Water as needed
Chickpeas , drained and rinsed 8 oz
Garlic, sliced 3 cloves
Onions, sliced 1 ea
Celery, sliced 1 stalk
Carrots, peeled and biased cut 3 mdm
Fennel, diced 1/2 ea
Squash, crescents 1/2 ea
Zucchini, 1/2 crescents 1/2 ea
Tomatoes, canned, drained, liquid reserved 1/2 ea
Baby Peppers, sliced 4 ea
Cauliflower, small florets 1/4 head
Oregano, fresh 1/4 bunch
Thyme, fresh 1/4 bunch
Mint, fresh 1/4 bunch
Crushed Red Pepper 1/2 T
Lemons, zested and juiced 1 ea
XVO as needed
Salt and Pepper to taste
Garnish
Feta and Olive relish
Method of Procedure
Prepare all vegetables accordingly, open cans, reserved liquids, zest and juice lemons.
Bring vegetable stock, 1/2 the herbs, reserved tomato juice to a boil.
Blanch the carrots, celery, squash, cauliflower, and zucchini. Strain and save liquid when done. Place vegetables in the fridge until ready.
Saute onions, garlic, fennel, and crushed red pepper in XVO until soft.
Add sliced baby peppers, salt, pepper, and lemon zest. Saute for a couple of minutes and add the drained tomatoes, chickpeas, and lemon juice.
Add the enhanced vegetable stock to the pot.
Finely chop the remaining herbs and put in the soup. Simmer for 40 minutes.
While simmering, get another pot of salted water boiled and cook off your pasta.
Blanch and reserve, coating in XVO.
Taste your soup and season to your preferences. Add the chilled vegetables into the soup and add water if needed. (If you add water you will need to reseason when you heat to serve).
To serve, heat the portion of soup you are going to use, add pasta to the soup, and season accordingly. Top with olive and feta garnish (or if you want to keep it vegan, just use sliced olives)
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