Minestrone Soup and Beer Bread

Minestrone, like many big pot recipes, is infinitely variable depending on region, seasonality, and taste. So, while there are commonly accepted practices of what a traditional minestrone is, not every recipe is identical.

In an effort to use up spare ingredients and make something that I can eat as a staple in the upcoming week, I've thrown together a gargantuan pot of Minestrone. I read a few recipes, and took ideas from both, but ended up substituting with the ingredients that I had on hand.

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3 stalks of celery, diced
2 carrots, diced
2 diced tomatoes
1 diced red onion
1 cubed large rutabaga
1 cubed small red potato (accidental addition)
16 oz diced mushrooms
1/4 cup packed spinach
1 cup navy beans, soaked and cooked*
1 cup "pink beans" soaked and cooked*
1/4 cup fresh basil
3 tbs dried parsley
1 4inch long sprig of rosemary
lots of cracked black pepper
1 bay leaf
3 cups beef broth
5 cups water
2 tbs olive oil
1 cup uncooked orzo
grated Parmesan cheese

heat olive oil in bottom of large pot. Add in onions, celery, and carrots, and cook on medium until they are softening and releasing their juices, about 20 minutes. Add the broth, water, beans, potato, rutabaga. Add bay leaf, basil, parsley, rosemary, and pepper. Cook on a simmer until vegetables and beans are soft and cooked through, 40 minutes to an hour.. or longer depending on how large the cubes are. Add spinach, mushrooms, cook for 20 minutes. Add orzo, cook until soft. Serve with freshly grated Parmesan cheese. 

*note: I used soaked and uncooked beans, and they ended up taking longer than the soup to finish. Everything else ended up wonderfully juice and tender. Remember when cooking beans, add salt after they are fully cooked, otherwise they end up an unpleasant texture. I'm wondering if the beef broth had enough salt in it to accomplish this task, because the soup cooked forever it seemed like, and the beans were still chewey when I finally decided to serve it.

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Beer Bread (from the Joy of Cooking)

Serve with heart soups or stews and mild or strong cheeses. Slices are good toasted or you can rewarm the whole loaf in the oven for a crisp outer crust. This bread keeps for 2-3 days.

Preheat oven to 400 deg. Grease an 8.5 X 4.5 inch loaf pan.

1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup white flour
1/2 cup old fashioned rolled oats
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt


Whisk together completely in a large bowl 1 cup whole wheat flour 1 cup all purpose flour 1/2 cup old fashioned rolled oats2 tsp baking powder 1/2 tsp baking soda1/2 tsp salt

Add
1&1/2 cups light or dark beer (but not stout) cold or at room temperature but not flat (pretty much a regular bottle of beer in volume. I use the whole beer and haven't had any issues)

Fold just unil the dry ingredients are moistened. Scrape the batter into the pan and spread evenly. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center and all the way to the bottom of the pan comes out clean 25-40 minutes Let cool in pan on a rack for 5-10 minutes before unmolding to cool completely on the rack.

* For the Beer I used an IPA. I really liked how it turned out because the IPA accentuates the wheaty/hoppy taste of the bread. The bread is really moist and dense, and absolutely delicious! 
** I've also been known to add cheese, this most recent time I added about 1/8th cup of Gorgonzola, and 1/8th cup sharp cheddar, finely diced. (It was what I had on hand in the cheese department..)