What can I add to my homemade minestrone soup? Something missing......

[mymatemarmite]

I have made a big pan of minestrone soup and there is something definitely missing! I have seasoned it.

This is what I have put in so far :
potato
carrot
leek
onion
tin of tomatoes
celery
garlic
salt and pepper
tomato puree
peas
pasta

Any ideas?

Celery salt

A little sugar to cut the acidity if the tomatoes

Worcester sauce?

Bay leaf, oregano, parsley!

A big dollop of pesto on the top and some grated Parmesan. Yum!

Bacon?

Pancetta/bacon
Oregano/basil/bay
Lea & Perrins
Loads of black pepper
Olive oil

WEIRD I am making minestrone now as well!

Parmesan, glob of bacon fat, oregano, cannelli (sp?) beans.

I always put bacon and a ham stock cube in too, and loads of pepper. Yum.

The end of a piece of parmesan. DH and DD won't let me do this though.

I sometimes add green beans and a dash of vinegar. Also basil, oregano, pepper and maybe cannellini beans as PPs have mentioned.

Fancying minestrone now, thanks for the much-needed dinner inspiration!

Things that I think make a difference

1. frying off the onions, carrots and celery really slowly to bring out their sweetness (should take more than 20 mins)
2. reducing the tomatoes by at least half and cooking them down really slowly (puree needs frying off first)
3. good quality stock (if using stock cubes. stock pots then add slowly so the flavour does not dominate
4. something blanched in the soup just before survey (greens, cabbage, parsley) and I think the freshness really picks it up

Spiralised courgette (I add this at the end instead of pasta).

Sqwudge the potatoes so the soup is thicker, or mash a few cannellini beans. Any leftover lettuce makes soup really creamy (oddly!)

Minestrone can be very watery if you aren't careful. I don't put any tomato in mine at all, but tinned tomatoes are very acidic and sour. Oddly (again) salt takes that acidic edge away more than sugar does.

Also dollop of olive oil at serving stage.

what stock did you use OP? That may be the missing factor.

A recipe I saw on YouTube had minced beef in it! Was basically a runny chilli! That the same person then added sweet corn to on another recipe and called it 'taco soup!'

I have added oxo to it. Have now added a little chilli powder and a couple of drops of worcester sauce - tastes a bit better but not much!

I unfortunately do not have any canellini (sp) beans, bacon etc

take the peas and the pasta out and let simmer for a good 30 mins or so - it might be that you have not cooked the tomatoes enough to get an intense enough flavour

Herbs. Thyme, oregano, marjoram. Probably highly inauthentic but still delicious.

Savoy cabbage?

You need Nigella's minestrone recipe. It's a bit odd because it involves no tomatoes and no garlic, but it's delicious. It does start off with something like 6 tbsp of ligurian olive oil and 2 tbsp butter though .

But you must have savoy cabbage or some other dark green vegetable in a minestrone ime.

Thanks - will take a look at the Nigella recipe for next time!

Parmesan rinds

Salt. Can be added via the medium of pancetta and parmesan, but if you've added neither you probably need more salt.

Lots more celery, basil, and fried bacon. Also an extra stock cube/ pot. Then savoy cabbage at the end. Some people also add a tin of beans - cannellini, I think.