Perfect: 68 Essential Recipes for Every Cook's Repertoire by Felicity Cloake

Author:Felicity Cloake [Felicity Cloake]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Non-Fiction, Cookbook, Recipes
ISBN: 1905490836
Google: vCkkv9tkkuoC
Publisher: Penguin
Published: 2011-08-03T22:00:00+00:00

In fact, as Locatelli and others point out, minestrone is more of a concept than a recipe, using whatever vegetables and thickeners happen to be available: courgettes, broad beans and peas in the spring, potatoes, chard and carrots in the winter. Common thickeners include broken bits of pasta, potato, beans, farro and rice – having tried all of them, I like to include cubes of potato, beans and risotto rice (at home, Locatelli admits he often makes a soup so thick with rice that his daughter can stand a spoon up in it – just as his grandmother did for him).

The really important thing to get right is the liquid which underpins the whole dish. Jamie comes down in favour of ham stock, while Locatelli uses vegetable stock for his light spring minestrone, and Angela says chicken stock gives the best flavour, although she concedes one can also use vegetable at a pinch. Chicken is certainly the most versatile option; more subtle than ham, and more savoury than vegetable, it’s the ideal base for most ingredients. I don’t think you need the red wine or tinned tomatoes that Mr Oliver puts into his early autumn minestrone either – they make it too rich and tomatoey, overpowering the vegetables which should be the real stars of the show.

A good tip from Locatelli is to add the ingredients in the order they will cook, rather than sticking everything in together and hoping for the best. This way you should end up with soft, rather than mushy veg – and not a lump of soup powder in sight.

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