Minestrone
- Howard Bulka
- Jan 2
- 3 min read
Updated: Apr 1
I live a food obsessed life. I’m not sure if that stands as an admission, a confession or a boast, but it’s true and I have been eating mightily this holiday season. On Christmas Eve we sat down to a mountain of cracked Dungeness crab, which we ate heartily with lemony Aioli, a simple salad and crusty sourdough bread. It was sublime. The next day we gathered to open presents with steaming mugs of hot chocolate and cinnamon babka from Green’s Bakery in New York (courtesy of Goldbelly) and, still in our pajamas, we lunched on wild mushroom quiche with a fine buttery crust.
On New Year’s Eve we ate roast turkey with baked polenta and broccoli raab sautéed in good olive oil with too much garlic and a pinch of hot chili. There were only six of us at the table on New Year’s Eve but I roasted a 13-pound turkey, just to be certain that there would be lots of leftovers for pot pie and club sandwiches. And there was.
I baked a perfect blueberry pie, a not so perfect pavlova (we’ll talk) and cookies of all sorts. Boxes of See’s Candies seemed to appear magically. We were reintroduced to French 75 at a cocktail party hosted by our French friends, sipped Perfect Negronis (½ dry vermouth and ½ sweet vermouth) at our neighbors down the street and I scored a classy Gevrey-Chambertin which paired perfectly with steak frites at Zola’s on Ramona Street. I could go on.
Eating to promote health and well-being is not a burden, but rather an opportunity to rediscover the simple joys of simple foods well prepared. So, let’s march into the new year with a simple soup. A tonic, if you will, for the excesses of the holiday season. Brimming with fresh vegetables, minestrone is a classic Italian soup, soulful and satisfying, comfort food for the chilly nights ahead of us. Our recipe of the month is vegetarian, vegan without the garnish of parmesan cheese and features chickpeas aka garbanzo beans. Chickpeas are high in protein, high in fiber and a great source of minerals. They are a bit calorific, but the portion size is modest, less than a hundred calories per (main course) serving. Also, the recipe calls for the addition of elbow macaroni at time of serving and a generous sprinkle of parmesan cheese as garnish. Applied prudently, a big bowl of minestrone will satisfy a big appetite, with under 500 calories. This recipe will yield about two quarts. That’s a lot of soup. Make it on a Sunday, feed the family, and then keep the leftovers for lunches and quick meals throughout the week, a lean and nutritious start to the new year. Hopefully a welcome addition to your food obsessed life.  |
MinestroneYield 2 Quarts
Group 1 1 lb Raw chick peas A.N. Water
Group 2 1/4 cup Olive oil 1 cup Celery, diced 1 cup Red Onion, diced 1 cup Carrot, Peeled and sliced thin 2 cup Swiss chard, chopped 25 g garlic, minced
Group 3 1 cup Pomodoro, passata or marinara 1 qrt Water 1 Parmesan rind (optional) ¾ tbl Salt Pinch Red chili flake 1 ½ tsp Black pepper 1 ½ tsp Oregano, dry 1 sprig Rosemary, Fresh
To Serve A.N. Chick peas, cooked A.N. Elbow Macaroni, cooked A.N Grated Parmesan A.N. Good Olive Oil
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