Milanese Minestrone, or Minestrone alla Milanese: "We know," writes Adriano De Carlo, from whose 's Cazzoeùla, busècca, òss bùs... e altre 97 ricette lombarde this recipe is drawn, "that nowadays people buy frozen minestrone and that it’s actually not bad. Modern cooking is based on the assumption that people have considerably less time to dedicate to the burner; one has many other things to do and time flies...
Prep Time: 45 minutes
Cook Time: 2 hours,
Ingredients:
- 1 pound (500 g) ripe tomatoes
- 7/8 pound (400 g) garden peas
- 1/2 pound (200 g) cranberry beans
- Fresh pork rinds (as many as you like)
- Parsley
- Basil
- Sage
- 2 potatoes
- 2 zucchini
- A stick of celery
- A carrot
- An onion
- Freshly grated Grana Padano (or Parmigiano)
- Garlic
- Salt and pepper
- Pasta or rice, whichever you prefer
Preparation:
... "One can approve or not, but this is the situation. After all, it is not us who dictate the rhythms of our lives, but rather someone whose aim is to divide our days into an infinite number of segments, that we devote each to the use of a product that we absolutely had to buy. "That cooking also includes an element of philosophy is without doubt, and in this case haste is the enemy of quality. This is not to say that you shouldn’t buy a frozen minestrone, but if you want to recapture your identity, you could start with a minestrone, a classic dish that’s also Milanese. The ritual this recipe asserts is the affirmation of an absolute: That of using our time as we see fit. "One point in favor of "our" minestrone is that frozen minestrone is only good when hot, whereas ours improves with age and is good cool, the next day. This isn’t something to sneer at."To serve 6 you'll need the ingredients above. Dice the celery, carrot, and zucchine, slice the tomatoes, discarding the seeds, peel the potatoes, and mince the parsley and the garlic with the onion. If you’re using the pork rind scrape it and cut it into thin strips. Put the vegetables except for the peas in a pot and add 2 quarts of water; salt the soup lightly and simmer it over a gentle flame for about 2 1/2 hours. When the time is up stir in the peas, and short pasta or rice as you prefer, figuring about 5 palmfulls of either. Check seasoning and cook, stirring gently lest the pasta or rice stick to the bottom of the pot, and when everything is cooked, ladle the soup into bowls and serve it with grated cheese on the side.
