Minestrone with Pasta, Kale, Fennel and Cannellini
Minestrone is a thick Italian vegetable soup often with the addition of legumes, pasta or rice and sometimes meat. Like many Italian dishes, minestrone belongs to the cucina povera (literally, “poor kitchen”) which is a style of rustic cooking that utilizes simple, seasonal ingredients.
This particular minestrone starts with a soffritto, a mixture of lightly sautéed cipolle (onions) and finocchio (fennel) used as a base. Cavolo nero (Tuscan kale), fagioli cannellini(cannellini beans) and brodo vegetale biologico(organic vegetable broth) are then added to the pot and left to simmer for a few minutes. A trick to adding a creamy texture and lovely green color is to slightly blend the mixture with a hand held blender a few times before adding the pasta.
Serves: 6-8
Heat the olive oil in a large pot and add the onion and fennel. Cook over medium heat until soft; 3-5 minutes. Add the kale, cannellini beans and vegetable broth. Bring to a boil and cook for 3 minutes. To add a creamy texture, use an immersion mixer to pulse 5-6 times so that some of the ingredients are well blended but there are still a lot of chunks. (Alternatively you can skip this step.) Add the Ditalini pasta and cook one minutes less than the package instructions*. Season with salt and black pepper to taste. Ladle into bowls and garnish with chopped reserved fennel fronds. Serve immediately.
*The pasta is cooked less than the package instructions since it will continue to cook in the vegetable broth.
