On my first day off the task was to make chicken stock for the minestrone. I always cheat and buy a roasted chicken from the grocery store. I had George pick the breast clean of meat and then threw it in a large pot with 3 or 4 carrots, 3 or 4 celery stalks, half a sweet onion quartered, 2 parsnips and a tea ball filled with sage and some sea salt. I suppose I probably start with about 4 quarts of water and let it simmer down to around 3 I guess. I don't really know since I just fill the pot... it's probably more like 6 and I take it down about half way. I like to use this awesome pot that I have which I think may be a lobster pot. It has a deep steaming basket which keeps me from having to strain the contents of the pot after I'm done. It takes a few hours for it to simmer down and develop a decent golden color so I don't bother to cut the veggies much other than maybe in half.
Day off number 2 came the actual soup. George did the majority of the chopping since I was busy messing up the cookies for the next day, but that's the next story. I found this recipe in the Culinary Institute of America New Book of Soups. It turned out pretty well last year when I made it and I've only modified it slightly so they should truly get credit here. Like I said, George did the chopping since there is a lot involved, so here goes. He chopped up about a cup of chopped onions (I had to do the onions since he hates those), a cup of sliced carrots, 1/4 - 1/2 cup of sliced celery and mince about 2 good sized cloves of garlic and set aside. Next I had him cut up 5 to 6 thin slices of pancetta. We heated about 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a soup pot and over medium heat added the pancetta. That had to cook until the fat melted which generally takes about 3 to 5 minutes... don't allow it to brown.
When the pancetta was ready, we added the chopped veggies from the bowl and cooked until the onions were translucent which took about 6 to 8 minutes. Meanwhile I had him peal and dice a baking potato. When the onions were done, I added about 2 quarts of chicken stock, the potatoes, and a 3 inch (or so) chunk of parmesan cheese. Brought that to a simmer and cooked it for about 30 minutes or until veggies were soft. Once that was under way, I broke up roughly 3/4 of a cup of angel hair whole grain pasta and cooked that to normal al dente directions. I also took advantage of the hour to peel and de-seed 2 plum tomatoes and then dice them (to peel a tomato, cut an x in the bottom of it, toss it in a pot of boiling water for 30 seconds and then peel away). We also strained and rinsed a can of cooked kidney beans and a can of cooked chickpeas/garbanzo beans.
When the veggies were done I removed what was left of the parmesan rind (funny how it becomes this gob of I don't know what) and added the pasta, about a half cup or so of kidney beans, a 1/3 cup of garbanzos, maybe 3 or 4 heaping tablespoons of pesto, and the tomatoes. After that it was ready to serve, though I always think it's better to let it sit in the fridge overnight. It always seems to taste better the next day.
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