Steps to Make Autumn Vegetable and Pumpkin Minestrone

• The vegetable minestrone recipe is very simple, but it requires some small attentions regarding cutting the vegetables and their cooking times. So let’s start by calmly preparing all the ingredients we will use for this recipe.

  Take a wooden cutting board and a knife and position yourself on a work surface. Prepare some small plates nearby where you can place the ingredients individually once cut. This step is beautiful; it will seem like you’re composing a painter’s palette with autumn colors!

  Let’s start: wash all the vegetables you are going to use and pat them dry with a cloth or kitchen paper towel. Then start with the pumpkin, remove the peel with the knife and then with a spoon all the seeds. Cut into cubes that are neither too big nor too small. However, they should be consistent with each other, as this will help to even out the cooking of this and all other ingredients. Place the cut pumpkin into a shallow dish.

  Next, move on to the potatoes, which should also be cut into regular cubes, and place them in a shallow dish. Then cut the zucchini and tomatoes and divide them into shallow dishes as well. Beans and peas obviously do not need to be cut, but are left whole. Up to this point, we have prepared the main ingredients of our pumpkin minestrone. Now let’s move on to the aromas and flavors for the sauté. If you want to add larger pieces of carrots, you can do so, the weight won’t be more than 1.4 oz used for just the sauté, but you will need to add it in the same amount as the others, that is, another 3.5 oz of product.

  

• So, take the carrots, leeks, onion, and celery. Cut everything into small cubes. First, cut into slices and then into cubes. The smallest you can make with a non-serrated knife. Finely chop the parsley. Now let’s move to the stovetop.

  Turn the flame to low and place a non-stick pot with high edges on the heat. Pour a generous amount of extra virgin olive oil inside and add: celery, carrot, and onion. Let it cook for 5 to 7 minutes, stirring with a wooden spoon.

  Add the leek after this time has passed, and deglaze with some white wine. If you don’t want to use wine or don’t have any at home, you can substitute it with water. It will work just as well for this recipe. Continue cooking for another 10 minutes. Now we will finally start adding the essential ingredients to make the vegetable and pumpkin minestrone. So, raise the flame to medium intensity. Take the pot’s lid as it will be necessary from here on for cooking the vegetable and legume minestrone.

  We will indeed add the pumpkin as the first ingredient. Then the chard leaves, without the ribs, after washing and chopping it. Then the beans, and let it cook for about 10 minutes. As you can see, we are adding the ingredients based on their cooking times; one should not rush when preparing a minestrone, every vegetable, green, or legume has its own boiling time. Then we add the potatoes and sprinkle with some nutmeg. Continue cooking over moderate heat. Now it’s time for the zucchini. And if you found green beans, this is the time to insert them. Whether fresh or frozen. I preferred to cut them into three equal parts, leaving them recognizable in the minestrone.

  Sprinkle everything with salt and black pepper and let it cook for another 5 minutes. We will add the peas and tomatoes last, as they are the ingredients that take the least time to cook.

  Now add water, almost 1 2/3 cups, and the lid. This begins the actual cooking of our good minestrone with seasonal vegetables. Let it cook for 40 – 45 minutes. Stir occasionally, gently, with the wooden spoon. We must not break the ingredients, otherwise, you won’t have the same visual effect as mine, and you risk ending up with a vegetable puree instead of a beautifully colorful and delicious minestrone with whole vegetable and green pieces.

  

• After this time, we will further enhance the flavor with parsley, adding a small amount of water that we will use to cook the minestrone pasta. The water should preferably be warm to avoid creating temperature shocks during cooking. You can obviously choose the pasta you prefer; I chose the egg surpises which I like a lot. But there are also capellini, little bows, nuggets, tiny stars, little stars, squares, and many other shapes to vary each time. Winter is long, and minestrone is an exceptional comfort food.

  So let’s add the pasta we’ve chosen and continue cooking for the time indicated on the package. Stir well and put the lid back on the pot. Let it cook and prepare the cheese. It’s a must if minestrone is prepared at my house! If you like, you can also add Greek yogurt, classic cheese wedges, or robiola. However, a nice aged grana or local pecorino always wins at my place.

  Small variant and curiosity: I know that in many regions, like Liguria and Sicily, to give just two examples, they add pesto to the minestrone. The first obviously with Genoese pesto and the second with Sicilian pesto. Another way to add flavor to this dish, definitely a natural thickener that enriches this simple and economical recipe. If you want to add one of these ingredients, this is the time to do so, when you add the minestrone pasta, also add one or two tablespoons of pesto of your choice. Mix well to incorporate it into the other ingredients and let it cook for the pasta’s cooking time.

  My fellow food blogger Luisa suggested trying with Genoese pesto, she is from Liguria and she knows her stuff! I promised her that I’ll try this variant with the next minestrone and will write it as a final comment and photograph it to show you the difference of the vegetable minestrone with Genoese pesto.

  Finally, our minestrone with vegetables, greens, and legumes is ready to be served. Sprinkle with cheese if you like, and enjoy it hot and brothy with toasted bread croutons. If you want to serve the vegetable minestrone with pumpkin as I did, you will need to keep the pumpkin whole. I did a laborious job with a knife and spoon to not break it and still get the pulp needed for this recipe. I used the remaining part to make pumpkin shortcrust without butter, perfect for cinnamon cookies. Once the pumpkin was hollowed out, I used it as a soup bowl, placing it on a plate with the vegetable minestrone inside and the lid as a cap. I must say it also kept the dish warm until we finished the minestrone.

  I remind you that you can follow the blog Le Ricette di Bea with many other easy, economical, and delicious recipes like this one. Below you will also find all the social media links to follow so you don’t miss any food content from my kitchen! I wish you a good appetite!!!