My Own Hearty Minestrone Soup Recipe

I consider myself a well established cook, having gotten involved with French cuisine in particular for over thirty years, however, my culinary skills aren't limited to French cooking, but a wide variety of nationalities, such as Italian, Mexican, and Oriental. During all these years I've always been a stickler for making any meal completely homemade and entirely from scratch, in other words, no "short-cuts". If for instance, I want to make biscuits, yes, I make homemade biscuits and have never used the Pillsbury biscuit dough in that pop-up can.

Among the many types of meals I've made over the years, I love making homemade soups, and now that the weather is starting to turn on the chilly side, what could be better than a nice piping hot bowl of soup? In the past I've made homemade Chicken, Lentil, Pea, Black Bean, Potato, Cream of Celery, Gazbacho, and French Onion soup Gratinée.

Recently, I came across a recipe called Harvest Minestrone with Quinoa & Kale Soup and looking at the photo, I have to admit my mouth began to drool, it looked delicious. I give the link for that recipe here, however, it inspired me to do my own version of the soup and I prepare it in a completely different way than the original recipe. The original recipe, for instance calls for a can of crushed tomatoes, kale and the quinoa, I omitted these three ingredients and substituted my own as you'll see if you compare recipes. Also most of the vegetable ingredients in the original recipe call for them to be diced; I instead cut most of the vegetables such as the zucchini in large cubes or slices.

My Own Hearty Minestrone Soup:

Ingredients:

2 or 3 tablespoons of olive oil

1 medium-sized onion diced

2 cloves of garlic minced

2 celery stalks sliced (not diced!)

2 or three large carrots, pared and sliced

1 large fresh zucchini, pared, thickly sliced and cut into cubes

1 cup of fresh green beans cut into about 1" pieces

1 green bell pepper, sliced and diced

1 large jar of pasta source~~I used a 24 oz. jar of Vito Marcello's Tomato and Basil Marinara Sauce

3 or 4 cups water

1 large plum tomato cut into cubes

1 15 oz. can chickpeas

1 15 oz. can either Cannellini or Red Kidney Beans ( I used the Red Kidney Beans)

1 cup cooked pasta (such as ditalini or elbow macaroni)

Salt and pepper to taste

Garnish with pre-grated parmesan cheese

Instructions:

In a large stockpot add the olive oil, onions and garlic and sautée till tender (don't let burn!). Pour and add approximately one half of the pasta sauce into stockpot, then add the water. Stir to blend. Add all the vegetables to pot, omitting the beans. Let all the ingredients simmer for 20 to 30 minutes. While the soup is simmering, in a large saucepan, boil a quart of water and add about 3/4 cup pasta and cook until al-dente.

If necessary keep adding a little more of the pasta sauce and water to the soup as the liquid will have a tendency to evaporate. About ten minutes before the soup is done, add the chickpeas, Cannellini or Red Kidney Beans and the pasta and let simmer some more. Ladle in the soup into bowls and sprinkle some of the parmesan cheese on top.

Servings: about 8 to 10 servings

Enjoy!!

Image Source: ©Melanie Neer~my own photo of my Hearty Minestrone Soup

The Original Recipe Harvest Minestrone With Quinoa & Kale Soup as a comparison and what inspired me to do my own recipe:

www.mindbodygreen.com/0-11146/harvest-minestrone-with-quinoa-kale.html (Originally published at bubblews~~October 16, 2013)

How I Got Interested In Cooking French Cuisine

(Article first appeared at Bubblews on April 19, 2013)

Article At Bubblews

It was sometime a little after I graduated college that I took an interest in French Cuisine however, my interest may have started sooner as I had taken a French language course the last term of my college life. The class was entirely conducted in French by the professor, who by the way, actually was from France. On occasion she would break that rule of hers and talk about life in France in English, and among things would give wonderful detailed talks about French food that made my mouth drool.

Then, on one occasion, I happen to tune into Julia Child's cooking show, it was a show I normally didn't watch since to be honest, I just didn't care for her; to me she always sounded as if she had been dipping into the cooking sherry a wee bit too much. However, on that day I happen to catch her show, she was introducing a then up and coming French chef, Jaques Pepin. O la la! Not only was he demonstrating his own techniques for cooking French foods, but hey, he wasn't bad to look at either. Now when I think of it, what then happened next was almost similar to that movie Julie & Julia, where the one character, Julie Powell decides to cook every single recipe in Julia Child's cookbook, but instead of cooking up recipes from Julia Child's cookbook, I began collecting not only Jaques Pepin's cookbooks, but other French recipe cookbooks and began cooking up a storm.

Now you have to realize that in years prior, if and when I did cook something, it would be very basic, mainstream foods, you're typical meat and potatoes type of thing, nothing fancy schmancy. In my childhood and teen years, I relied on whatever food my mother or grandmother cooked up, and let's put it this way, cooks they weren't. If they could have burned water they would have, yes, their cooking was that bad. The only real cook of the family had been my great grandmother, and praise be, there is a God, I must have inherited her skills rather than either my mother or grandmother.

I have to admit I didn't cook every single French recipe in the cookbooks I had, as the idea of say preparing and fixing something like escargot or Tripes à la Niçoise (Tripe stew) just repulsed me. I did however start my journey into French cooking by preparing known classics, such as Crêpes, Boeuf Bourguignon, and yes, I even made the all elusive and difficult Soufflé.

When I realized I had a real knack for cooking French foods, it was like full steam ahead. After a little time had passed by and as I became more confident in my skills, and since Thanksgiving was fast approaching, I ditched the idea of the usual and more traditional Thanksgiving dinner and instead did a full French gourmand feast consisting of French Onion Soup Gratinée, Crêpes filled with chicken and mushroom with Sauce Mornay, Boeuf Bourguignon, and for dessert, Poires pochées au vin (Poached Pairs in Wine Sauce). How I didn’t gain a hundred pounds with that one dinner, I’ll never know.

As the years passed by I would later embark on cooking other types of cuisine as well, such as Oriental, Mexican, Italian, and so forth, but to this day, my first love is to cook French food and while I don’t knock myself out as much as I used to, as I did with that Thanksgiving dinner I had cooked so many years ago, I still love to make up something special from time to time, like my Boeuf Bourguignon which I serve on a bed of Couscous as seen in my photo of it when I made it as my birthday dinner.

If you would like my recipe version of Boeuf Bourguignon you can find it here:

voices.yahoo.com/how-great-boeuf-bourguignon-meal-2294943.html?cat=22Recipe for Boeuf Bourguignon

To coin a phrase Julia Child would say at the end of her show: Bon Appétit

How to Make a Great Boeuf Bourguignon Meal: A True French Culinary Feast

(ARTICLE ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED DECEMBER 4, 2008 AT Yahoo.voices however Yahoo.voices no longer exists)

{This first appeared at Ciao.com under my pen-name of pyewacket} This was one of the very first French cuisine meals I made some twenty-five years ago, and make it a point to fix it at least once a year. This can be a great alternative if you're looking for something truly different for a holiday meal, or any special affair. For the past few years, I've made it a point to make this as my special dinner for my birthday, which is coming up soon and I look forward to making it each and every year as my birthday dinner.

UPDATE: I no longer use bacon as I don't eat pork of any kind, nor the beef bouillon cube in my recipe, but if you wish you can still use both)

Boeuf Bourguignon can be looked at as a fancy way of making a beef stew, but instead of adding water or beef stock to simmer the meat, one uses red wine instead. And yes, this is one of those French meals that one uses brandy as well and ignites it. I have a confession too. The very first time I made this I was a bit skiddish about that igniting part, thinking I was going to contend with a really large flame of fire and contend with a potential fire hazard. The original recipe calls for only 2 or 3 tablespoons of brandy, yet I use about a ¼ of a cup--I really don't measure, I just pour it in.

Since you are using wine to cook this meal, be sure NOT to use an aluminum or iron stockpot, but instead use a stainless steel one.

For an added touch I also cook up Couscous to serve as a "bedding" for the Boeuf Bourguignon

Boeuf Bourguignon

4 ounces of bacon sliced chunky style (that is several sliced pieces of bacon but cut into chunks)

1 medium onion or 3 to 4 shallots, chopped

1 clove garlic, minced

2 or 3 pounds of stewing beef cut in 1 ½ cubes

2 or 3 tablespoons brandy ( I use more about ¼ cup)

Salt and pepper to taste

3 tablespoons butter

¼ teaspoon thyme

1 bay leaf

1 tablespoon parsley

3 cups dry burgundy wine

½ pound mushrooms, washed, stem removed and sliced

1 beef bouillon cube

1 or 2 carrots, washed, pared and sliced

Cooked Plain Couscous

In a stainless steel stockpot, add the chunks of bacon and allow to cook awhile until done. Add the onion (or shallots) and garlic and sauté until done. With a slotted spoon take out the bacon and garlic and set aside on a plate. Add the cubes of beef and let beef brown awhile. Stir the meat as it browns.

When meat is brown, turn off heat from pot and pour in the brandy, blending it in with the meat. Using a match (one of those long wooden kitchen matches works best), ignite the "brandied" meat, and stir with a spoon until flame goes out naturally. Not only does the brandy add flavor to the meat, but by igniting it, will reduce the fat content of the bacon fat.

Put flame back on low and sift in the flour over the meat and stir to blend an even coating over the meat and remove any lumpiness from the flour. Return the bacon bits and onion and garlic to the stockpot, then slowly add the wine. Add the sliced mushrooms, carrot slices, beef bouillon cube, salt and pepper to taste, thyme, bay leaf and parsley. Cover and simmer for at least four hours or until meat is tender. Keep checking as the wine broth reduces and you may add even more wine to it...I do.

When done, to thicken the sauce a bit, add some cornstarch to water and slowly add and stir to a desired consistency as thick or thin as you wish and let simmer for a few more minutes.

While the Boeuf Bourguignon is still simmering, cook up couscous according to the package directions and for the amount you want depending how many people you are serving. I use the 5-minute type of Plain Couscous such as the Near East brand by boiling the correct amount of water with added butter. Once water is boiled turn off heat and add the couscous, cover and remove from heat. It will "cook" in five minutes.

Take a plate and spoon some of the Couscous on it, spreading it out a bit in a circle and making a centered well for the Boeuf Bourguignon. Spoon in a portion of the Boeuf Bourguignon in the center of the Couscous.

Instead of Couscous one can also use noodles or rice, but somehow I much prefer the Couscous as it gives the meal a bit of added elegance and finesse.

Bon Appetít