autumn minestrone
ft. butternut squash, borlotti beans, and kale
Welcome to mama eats, a twice-weekly newsletter (Tues. & Sat.) inspired by a simple + seasonal home life. This week’s post, a recipe for an autumn minestrone, is free to all readers, barring the video of me making this recipe, which is viewable to paid subscribers. I try to provide as much free content as possible, however, this newsletter is a labor of love and I am a busy mother of three. If you have the means and find value in what I share, please consider becoming a paid subscriber, which also gives you the benefit of access to the growing archive (posts over a month old).
note: this bones of this post was written in 2019, with some edits from me today. The soup is similar to the one in the original post, but different to reflect how I make it today, as my cooking always continues to evolve over time and recipes have endless variations on a theme. If you’d like to see the original recipe, you can find it here.
Soup’s just the thing for autumn lunches and dinners, or even breakfasts when there’s an edge to the air. Especially when you’ve perhaps been doing some yard work or something outside, where you’ve worked up a hearty appetite and a bit of a chill, coming in to a steaming pot of soup is the cozy, inviting, welcoming.
In my twenties, I used to make big pots of minestrone, enough for a small army really, and entice friends to come round to help chop or stir, or arrive armed with baguettes. We’d crowd round the pot in my tiny yellow-tiled galley kitchen, cramped but warm, visiting and catching up while chopping, sautéing, then waiting. Finally, pouring steamy ladlefuls into bowls, ripping off hunks of baguette, conversations flowing like water. Our personal miseries shared, lightened, soothed for the time being.
Ever since I can remember, food has been a balm, and something worthwhile to spend time on, lovingly create, and most importantly of all, share. It is something that everyone can find common ground in, no matter who they are- we all must eat. Food is how I love others, how I love myself. It is how we are nourished in more ways than one, communally. And what is more communal than soup? One pot, something that can be, and historically has, been made of almost nothing. Something that has sustained humankind since ancient times, and is present through. all cultures. So, here is the soup I made yesterday. Make it, eat it with someone else whom you care for, pour some into a jar and give to a friend, a co-worker, a lover, a sister. Share it, and remember how good it feels to do so.
autumn minestrone
notes: Don’t rush- the key to soups being flavorful and rich is to cook the soffrito- the onion/celery/carrot- slowly in enough oil until the onion is translucent and everything looks a bit golden and smells very good, and feels a bit sticky when you stir it with your wooden spoon. If you want to cook the borlotti beans from scratch, soak 275g of them (about 1.5 cups) the night before and drain in the morning. Place in a big pot and cover with fresh water and a tablespoon of salt and simmer until just tender, about 1 hour. I used a pint of my home canned tomatoes here, but if I was using store bought, I would go for a can of the Bianco di Napoli or Trader Joe’s San Marzanino ones. For broth, I used water + Better Than Bouillon paste. Honeynut squash is especially good here, if you can find it.
1/4 cup // 60 ml olive oil
one yellow onion, diced small
2 large stalks of celery, diced small
2 large carrots, diced small
3 cloves of garlic, minced
.75 lb // 400 g butternut squash, cubed
one 400 g can of tomatoes, chopped
a heaping tablespoon of double concentrate tomato paste
one sprig of fresh rosemary
6 cups // 1400 ml of broth
2 cups / 400 g borlotti beans, or more if desired
one bunch of kale, torn or chopped into bite size pieces
Heat the oil in a heavy pot, such as a Dutch oven, over medium heat, and add the onion, celery, and carrots, along with a large pinch of sea salt. Sauté slowly over medium low heat until onion is translucent and vegetables are a bit golden, about 8-10 minutes, stirring ocasionally and lowering the heat if needed to avoid browning. Clear a space in the middle of the pan and add the tomato paste there, stirring it back and forth in that spot to fry it a bit, until the oil around it turns orange, a minute or two. Add the garlic and squash, plus another big pinch of sea salt, and stir well.
Add tomatoes and their juices, plus the rosemary. Stir well and let simmer for a few more minutes before adding in the broth.
Bring the pot just to a boil, cover with lid slightly ajar, and reduce heat so that soup is simmering. Leave to simmer for 30-45 minutes, or until squash is very tender and broth has thickened a bit.
Add beans and kale, stir well, and simmer another 10 minutes. Remove pot from heat, taste, and season with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Thin with extra broth if needed/desired.
Top bowls with a generous pinch of crushed red pepper flakes (or a spoonful of Calabrian chile paste) and plenty of good, crusty bread (either plain, or toasted and rubbed with garlic and olive oil).
For paid subscribers, find the video of me cooking this soup below: