Italian Secret Vegetable Soup Recipe

Welcome to the August 2012 Carnival of Natural Parenting: Farmer’s Markets

This post was written for inclusion in the monthly Carnival of Natural Parenting hosted by Code Name: Mama and Hobo Mama. This month our participants have written about something new they’ve learned about their local farmers.

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Make friends with a local farmer? Easy! Get them to reveal their secret minestrone soup recipe? Now that’s a challenge! Meet Malvina – a local farmer and chef famous for her delicious cuisine in Bonassola, Italy where I live. She loves two activities more than anything else: gardening and cooking and you can see her in action on the photographs attached.

Why was I desperate for her minestrone recipe? Because it’s delicious, healthy and well guarded, which made the challenge even more exciting! So, here it is:

Italian Minestrone: Difficulty: medium. Preparation time: 30 min. Cooking time: 2 h circa.

Ingredients for 4 persons (click here to convert the units into your favorite measurement system):

• 3 liters of water
• 1/2 cup of olive oil
• 1 tablespoon of salt
• 200 g of kidney beans
• 1 tomato
• 1 medium onion
• 1 clove of garlic
• 1 bunch of basil
• 1 kg of potatoes
• 3 zucchini
• 1 carrot
• 1 stalk of celery
• 200 g of pasta (Malvina uses ditalini rigati number 47)
• 1 tablespoon of grated parmesan cheese or pecorino

Note: Malvina uses pumpkin flowers and the delicate pumpkin leaves. You can also use cabbage or spinach.

Instructions:

Plant delicious vegetables or make friends with a farmer who loves gardening and will provide you with the highest quality ingredients (pic 1). Then:

1. Boil the water.
2. Wash the beautiful vegetables (pic 2).
3. Cut the vegetables into little pieces so that some of them melt as they boil and form a cream (pic 3).
4. Put the vegetables in the water, add salt and olive oil (salt and olive oil allow the vegetables to amalgamate easily).
5. Cook for min. 2 hours until part of the water will have evaporated (pic 4).
6. In a separate container blend a clove of garlic, a bunch of basil, a tablespoon of grated parmesan cheese or pecorino, 3 tablespoons of olive oil and a pinch of salt. This will form a sort of pesto.
7. After 2 hours add the pasta and cook for 7 minutes stirring often.
8. Add the pesto to the soup (pic 5).
9. Your minestrone is ready! (pic 6).

Note: no additional cheese should be added to this soup. Add olive oil to taste. In winter it should be served hot and in the summer it can be served lukewarm. The density is its most important characteristic.

Not Only Minestrone. 

I got Malvina to share hundreds of recipes and together we compiled the Illustrated Italian Cookbook: Get Out of My Kitchen! Check it out if you’re interested in more recipes like the above.

HOW DO YOU INTERACT WITH LOCAL FARMERS? PLEASE SHARE IN THE COMMENTS SECTION BELOW 🙂

You might also like:

Growing Pregnant Belly Week By Week

Baby Birth Guide

Meditation For Mindful Mama

Pregnancy Week 40 Photo Shoot

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Visit Code Name: Mama and Hobo Mama to find out how you can participate in the next Carnival of Natural Parenting!

Please take time to read the submissions by the other carnival participants:

(This list will be live and updated by afternoon August 14 with all the carnival links.)

• 10 Simple Ways to Make the Farmer’s Market More Fun for Kids — Lorie at Reading Confetti shares ideas and books to help kids get the most from the farmers market experience.
• 10 Things I Want To Teach My Daughter About The Importance of Shopping at the Farmer’s Market — Jennifer at Hybrid Rasta Mama shares the ten lessons she hopes to impart to her daughter about the importance of shopping at local farmers markets.
• Charmed by Two Small Town Markets — Shannon at GrowingSlower was charmed by two small-town farmers markets while on vacation.
• The Olympia Farmer’s Market (and a giveaway!) — Shannon at Pineapples & Artichokes and family took a trip to their state capitol to experience a new market. See what they saw, and enter to win a book written about that very market.
• On the Hunt . . . At the Farmer’s Market! — Exploring the farmers market by Jennifer at True Confessions of a Real Mommy writing at Natural Parents Network — with a scavenger hunt!
• Exploring the Market … Alphabet Style — That Mama Gretchen is in the midst of creating a learning tool for her toddler and it’s all about the market!
• Unschooling at the Farmers Market — Megz at Aspen Mama loves building memories as a vendor at the Market.
• Montessori-Inspired Vegetable Unit — Deb Chitwood at Living Montessori Now shares links to Montessori-inspired vegetable printables and activities to help your family get the most out of a trip to the farmer’s market.
• Markets — How sustainable mum has fitted a monthly farmers market into a weekly food shop.
• The Farmers Market In Under An Hour (“Carl Style”) — Andrea and family at Tales of Goodness adapt their farmers marketing approach to make everyone happy.
• Tales Of a Troubled Gardener — Sam at Love Parenting writes about her dream of self-sufficiency and her lack of gardening skills!
• A Few {Of The Many} Reasons Why I Love Our Farmer’s Market — Even though the experience can sometimes be less than peaceful, MomeeeZen shares why she enjoys taking her family to the Farmer’s Market on Saturday mornings.
• Experiencing the Farmer’s Market from a Different Perspective — Emily at S.A.H.M. i AM had a great time letting her toddler lead the way at the farmer’s market…
• Ask A Farmer’s Daughter — Abbie at Farmer’s Daughter answers questions about her life growing up on a small family farm in New England.
• Giving Up the Grocery Store — Kerry at City Kids Homeschooling shares her family’s summertime challenge to eliminate trips to the grocery store and rely almost exclusively on local, farm-fresh foods.
• Urban farming and fresh food in the city — Lauren at Hobo Mama takes trips to farms, gardens, and markets within reach of a big city.
• Market Tip: Get to Know Your Farmers — Justine at The Lone Home Ranger finally gets up the guts to talk to her farmers and learns she is among ardent food lovers.
• New Farmer’s Market Find — Kellie at Our Mindful Life is excited to make a new find at her new farmers market.
• “The Real World” Grassroots Edition — jessica at instead of institution takes some time out to write a love note.
• 9 Insider Tips for Farmer’s Market Newbies — Dionna at Code Name: Mama chatted with a few farmers to bring you some insider information on how to get the most out of your local farmer’s market.
• The Place Where I Can Say “Yes!” — Erica at ChildOrganics gives you a tour of her favorite vendors at her local farmers market and discusses the benefits of creating community through the market.
• Raw Local Milk — Jorje shares her family’s field trip to a local dairy. Learn what you can appreciate from a small town farm at Momma Jorje.com.
• Italian Secret Vegetable Soup Recipe — Alinka at Baby Web convinces an Italian Farmer & Cook to reveal a precious minestrone recipe and shares it with her readers.
• Where do our eggs come from? A visit to Sucellus Farms. — Carli at One Fit Mom takes her family to meet the chickens that have been providing their daily eggs.
• Beyond the Farm — Jennifer at True Confessions of a Real Mommy and her family enjoy looking beyond the food at the local farmer’s market to see the wares of the over vendors.
• Magic at the Market — Do you ever take time to really look at the food you eat? Amy at Anktangle enjoys marveling at the beauty (and the utility) of the foods and goods available at the farmers’ market.
• Farmer’s Market Discoveries — Laura from Pug in the Kitchen reminisces about the discoveries she’s made at the Farmer’s Market throughout the years.
• Are You Getting the Most out of Your Farmers’ Market? (My List of Not-So-Common “Musts”) — Sheila at A Living Family shares some uncommon ways to squeeze even more joy and connection (and yumminess!) from your local farmers’ market experience.
• Pick Your Own And Eat It — Luschka from Diary of a First Child shares their trip to a PYO farm and the journey from picking to eating her favourite food