Big Soup

     A bowl of vegetable soup is a culinary masterpiece.  Full of healthy, fresh veggies it is both warming and nutritious. But add just a few items like beans and pasta and it is a quick trip to Italy for an amazing meal of minestrone.  There are 3 Italian words for soup: zuppa, which is used in the sense of tomato soup, minestra, which applies to a more substantial soup, like a chowder, and minestrone, which refers to a very hearty or large soup.

     Minestrone is one of the mainstays of Italian cuisine and has been documented as far back as the Roman Empire.  It is said that the Roman army marched on minestrone and pasta fagioli, making good use of local and seasonal ingredients.  It was originally a very humble dish, intended for everyday consumption, as it was filling and also inexpensive.  It would have likely been a main course in the cucina povera, literally "poor kitchens" across Italy.

     There is no set recipe for minestrone, however, since it is usually made of whatever vegetables are in season.  So due to its unique origins, minestrone is not particularly similar across Italy.  It varies depending on traditional cooking traditions, available ingredients and the season of the year.  It can range from a thick dense texture with boiled down vegetables to a more brothy soup with large quantities of diced and lightly sauteed vegetables.  It can also include meat, like chicken or ground beef.

     Vegetables can be chosen to be intentionally made into minestrone or they can be culled from the leftovers of previous contori, or other side dishes.  As the soup crossed the Atlantic other ingredients from the Americas found their way into the pot, namely potatoes and tomatoes and squash.

     So be creative and prepare a hearty pot of Big Soup for your family and friends!