Carefully Constructed Soup: The Essential New York Times Cookbook

Garden Minestrone from 1973 was the most fun soup to cook ever. You start by layering a huge pot full of tomatoes, zucchini, romaine lettuce (!), peas, beans, and herbs, and then browning the whole thing. Only then do you stir and it magically becomes a delicious stew. No broth added!

The recipe called for the whole thing to be done in a glass casserole dish so you can dump it out later, but I did it in my crockpot. The presentation sounds amazing, but it was a weeknight and we had 30 minutes to eat then get to 4 different places. I served this over polenta with chicken sausages just to bulk it up a little, but I would have been completely happy with just the veggies.

Note: This recipe is part of a long look at Amanda Hesser’s 2010 The Essential New York Times Cookbook. See all posts here. Links to amazon.com are affiliate links. Thanks for your support!