Spring Minestrone #FoodieExtravaganza

Spring Minestrone is the perfect light meal, with tender young vegetables in a clear broth, topped with crème fraîche. You can, of course, substitute whatever fresh from the garden veggies you have available.

I called this recipe Spring Minestrone because I used those itty bitty baby vegetables that often appear in shops in late spring. Many are harvested early while still young and some are actually varieties that will never get much bigger. I went poking about the internet and found a couple of different articles that were very enlightening. This one in particular from Business Insider will give you the low down on some of our favorite tiny vegetables.

And this article on Slate goes into the culinary history of what they call micro-vegetables.

What I know for sure is that most "baby" carrots aren't really, but the rest of the little guys are adorable and, most importantly, make a beautiful tasty soup.

Spring Minestrone

This ingredient list is not set in stone! You can use vegetables in amounts and combinations that please you, so don’t get too hung up on the weights or measures. The amounts below are what I used. The whole recipe is also easily doubled or trebled to feed a crowd.

Ingredients to serve 4-5 as a first course, 2-3 as a main course
1/2 cup or 80g dried tiny pasta, like ditalini rigate
Big handful fine green beans
2 spring carrots
2 small zucchini
1 small bulb fennel (Choose one with fronds for garnish)
1/2 cup or 75g fresh-hulled peas (sub frozen petit pois if fresh aren't available)
2 baby corn on cobs
2 baby leeks
2/3 cup or 117g canned borlotti beans, rinsed and drained
4 1/4 cups or 1L good quality chicken stock

To serve:
Crème fraîche or lightly soured cream
Fennel fronds or chopped spring onions

Tip: Make this vegetarian by substituting a good quality vegetable stock instead.

Method
Scrub your carrots and zucchini and cut them into small pieces. These tender vegetables don’t need to be peeled, just cleaned.

Cut the stalks off the fennel and keep any fronds for garnish. Thinly slice the bulb. Top and tail the green beans and cut them into thirds.

Trim the ends of the corn and the dark green off of the baby leeks and then cut them both into short pieces.

Boil your pasta according to package instructions. Drain, rinse and set aside.

Place the vegetables in a soup pot then pour in the chicken stock.

Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat and simmer until the vegetables are cooked through, but still firm, about 5-7 minutes tops.

Add in the cooked pasta and beans. Warm through, then ladle into bowls and top each with a dollop of crème fraîche and a sprinkle of chopped fennel fronds and/or spring onions.

Enjoy!

June is National Fruit andVegetable Month! Many thanks to Ellen of Family Around the Table for this month's Foodie Extravaganza theme and for her behind the scenes work. Check out all of the other fabulous recipes we are sharing today.

• Farmers' Market Walk + Chilled Cantaloupe Soup with Preserved Lemon-Herb Salsa by Culinary Adventures with Camilla
• Fresh Fruit Tart with Orange Curd by My Pinterventures
• Fresh Strawberry Salsa by Jolene's Recipe Journal
• Fried Onion Strings by Family Around the Table
• Fruity Rice Paper Rolls by Sneha's Recipe
• Green Papaya Salad (Som Tum) by Palatable Pastime
• Grilled Ratatouille by A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Shaved Asparagus Pizza with Brie by Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Spring Minestrone by Food Lust People Love
• Strawberry Avocado Salad by Cookaholic Wife
• Watermelon Lemonade by Caroline's Cooking

Foodie Extravaganza celebrates obscure food holidays, and we all post recipes using the same ingredient. Posting day is always the first Wednesday of each month. If you are a blogger and would like to join our group and blog along with us, come join our Facebook page Foodie Extravaganza. We would love to have you!

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