Put the olive oil in early while simmering tomatoes.
At first it will seem like tomato juice and you'll think -- how in heaven will this amount to being minestrone? But coming out of blender the tomato juice is raw...gotta let it all cook with the garlic and olive oil. Spices can be added in the early part too.
So do ..
1. Stock... (Broth, tomatoes that are blended, not chopped, garlic, oil -- maybe a little water too...) May want to add salt too. Simmer about 30 mins to an hour...when it seems that the sauce is more 'cooked'. You'll know it when you see it.. it will be less like raw tomatoes and more like a soup stock.
2. Chopped vegetables...add them and let them simmer until they are al-dente. You don't want them to be mushy...there will be plenty of mushy vegetables later in life when the food service at the nursing home drops the tray on our table. Life's too short for mushy vegetables...so about an hour is a good time for letting them simmer.
3. Pasta and beans... If beans aren't canned then that's another process altogether. Drain the canned beans... Add your 1/2 package or so of pasta. Do what looks prudent...you don't want too much or too little of it.
4. Taste the soup all through the process. You have to taste to see if it will be right. Add salt or whatever spices you may want to add in the process.
See how unscientific my cooking is. That's why I love soup.....
As long as I don't add something that's not supposed to be there....it can take about any shape it needs to take!!!
I know soup is not a summer dish, but I like soup any time of the year.
on July 21, 2011, 4:08 pm, in reply to "