Food

A Soup for All Seasons (Even Summer)

What would you like for dinner? At our house, soup is often the answer. After a few days of excess — a series of dinner guests or one too many restaurant forays — it feels like a clean, quiet choice. In every season, soup can be just right.

Posted Updated

By
David Tanis
, New York Times

What would you like for dinner? At our house, soup is often the answer. After a few days of excess — a series of dinner guests or one too many restaurant forays — it feels like a clean, quiet choice. In every season, soup can be just right.

Some vegetable soups are complex and long simmered, but that is not what you want in the middle of July. This light, brothy take brims with full-flavored summer vegetables for a colorful minestrone that can be put together in a mere half-hour or so.

If you do not have a vegetable garden — or access to a friend’s bounty — it is worth going to the farmers’ market for the freshest, sweetest produce, because this soup is all about vegetables.

With a handful of green beans, a few tomatoes, some just-picked zucchini or pattypan squash, you will be well on your way to a quick pot of soup. Feel free to include other vegetables, like peas, favas or shelling beans. Up the number of tomatoes, too, if you wish, but I prefer this soup with a hint of tomato, to let the other components’ flavors shine.

The soup itself is more method than recipe: First, warm the olive oil in a soup pot. Add a large chopped onion and cook until softened. Throw in some chopped garlic, a bay leaf and a fresh ripe chopped tomato or two, along with a dab of tomato paste, a pinch of crushed red pepper and perhaps a splash of white wine. Season this mixture generously with salt and pepper: It is the essential flavorful base for a quick soup.

The rest is easy. Add water (or broth, if you have it, but that is really unnecessary) and chopped vegetables, then simmer briskly and briefly.

While the soup is cooking, make a quick pesto with garlic, basil, olive oil and a little Parmesan. I find pleasure in pounding the pesto the old-fashioned way with a mortar and pestle, but you can always make it in a food processor or with a sharp knife.

To finish, some small pasta shapes, like pennette or orecchiette, can be cooked directly in the soup, or prepared in a separate pot and added to each bowl. Spoon a bit of pesto into each serving and pass grated Parmesan at the table.

For a warm-weather lunch or supper, the simplicity of this soup is very appealing and, even though it is served warm, it is still quite refreshing.

RECIPE:

Summer Minestrone al Pesto

Yield: 4 servings

Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients:

For the soup —

3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

1 large onion, diced, about 1 1/2 cups

Salt and pepper

6 garlic cloves, minced

1 bay leaf

1 tablespoon tomato paste

Pinch of crushed red pepper

Splash of white wine (optional)

2 large very ripe sweet tomatoes, chopped (about 2 cups)

3 or 4 zucchini or summer squash, chopped into roughly 1/2-inch cubes (about 3 cups)

1/2 pound romano beans, ends trimmed and cut into 2-inch lengths (about 2 cups)

2 cups small, dry pasta, such as pennette or orecchiette

1/2 pound small green beans, ends trimmed and cut into 2-inch lengths (about 1 1/2 cups)

For the pesto —

2 medium garlic cloves, coarsely chopped

Salt and pepper

2 cups basil leaves, loosely packed, washed and dried

1 cup parsley leaves, loosely packed, washed and dried

3/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil

1/4 cup grated Parmesan, plus more for serving

Preparation:

1. Set a large, heavy-bottomed soup pot over medium-high heat, and add olive oil. When oil is hot, add onion and season generously with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring frequently, until softened and just beginning to color, 5 or 6 minutes.

2. Add garlic, bay leaf, tomato paste and red pepper. Cook, stirring, for another minute, then add wine, if using, and tomatoes, and bring to a brisk simmer.

3. Add 8 cups water and a good pinch of salt and let mixture return to a brisk simmer. Cook for 10 minutes, then taste for seasoning. The broth should be well seasoned before the vegetables go in.

4. Make the pesto: As the broth simmers, pound the garlic and salt to a paste in a large mortar. Beginning with a few basil leaves at a time, pound basil to a paste, then add parsley leaves and a little salt. Continue to pound until all the basil and parsley have been pounded into a coarse green paste. (Alternatively, many people may wish to make the pesto in a food processor.)

5. Transfer to a serving bowl and whisk in olive oil and Parmesan. Taste and season with salt and pepper. Set pesto aside covered with a thin layer of oil or with plastic film pressed against its surface to prevent oxidation.

6. Add the zucchini, romano beans and pasta to the simmering broth and cook 7-8 minutes, until pasta is al dente. Add green beans and cook for a minute or 2.

7. Ladle soup into bowls, topping each with a dollop of pesto. Pass more grated Parmesan at the table.

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