Spring Minestrone

As I was flipping through Moosewood's "Daily Special" cookbook the other day, I realized that I have marked a ridiculous number of pages without trying the recipes, so I tested two of them a few days ago. French Barley Salad which is, alas, not pictured, was a delicious mix of barley, yellow bell pepper, carrot, mushroom, green beans, and walnuts tossed with a lemon vinaigrette. Lovely, and I'll make it again. The Spring Minestrone is a delicious and healthful clear soup that I will make variations of this summer.

It started with a homemade broth that included some of the trimmings from the barley salad - green beans, mushrooms - and my standard onion, garlic, celery, peppercorns, carrots, herbs, cloves, potato, and whatever else needs to be used up. Actually the soup started much earlier when I soaked a pot of white beans, which I prefer over canned if there is time.

I boiled the beans for two minutes then covered and soaked them for just over an hour. They were tender, but not done. After adding salt and pepper they probably simmered for about 30 minutes before I took them off the heat. 

While the broth simmered I prepped the soup ingredients:

 Frozen peas, salt/pepper/oregano/tarragon, zucchini, onion and garlic, celery, and kale, all waiting to go into the pot. The leeks hadn't looked good at the market, unfortunately, but they would have been nice.

The onions were sauteed for a few minutes before adding the celery and seasonings for their turn. Stock and zucchini, beans, greens and peas were added with a simmer between each. 

A splash of cider vinegar finished each bowl, with a pass of parmesan. Quite easy, light, and good for you!

Finally, it's been a while since a gratuitous picture of Rusty showed up. Here he is visiting my local yarn shop. Yes, he poses.