Cooking Demonstration by Chef David Frattini

Minestrone Soup

Yield:  24 eight-ounce servings 
Preparation Time:  50 minutes

Ingredients

Procedure

1. For best quality, precook the dried pasta.  Bring a medium sauce pot with salted water to a boil.  Cook pasta until just tender.  Drain pasta, rinse under cool water to stop the cooking, and immediately toss with 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil so it does not stick together.  Reserve cooked pasta until Step 8. 
2. Heat the remaining vegetable oil in a heavy soup pot over medium heat. 
3. Add yellow onion, celery, and carrot.  Sweat the vegetables until tender.  Add garlic.  Cook until garlic aroma is present. 
4. Add cabbage.  Sweat cabbage until soft. 
5. Add zucchini and yellow squash.  Gently cook squash until just tender. 
6. Add tomatoes and their juice and the chicken or vegetable stock (use vegetable stock to preserve as a vegetarian soup). 
7. Bring the soup to a simmer.  Make sure the beans are rinsed and well drained.  Add beans to the soup and return to a simmer. 
8. Add the cooked pasta from Step 1. 
9. Add the fresh basil and return soup to a simmer. 
10. Check and adjust seasoning with salt and white pepper.   Hold soup warm for service. 
11. Prepare baguette crostini.  Preheat chargrill.  Lightly brush one side of each baguette slice with olive oil. Season lightly with salt and black pepper.  Lightly grill each slice of baguette by placing oiled side down on the grate first.  Achieve grill marks and lightly toast.  As soon as the crostini are removed from the grill, rub the warm crostini with the whole garlic clove.  Hold crostini warm for service. 
12. Plate soup for service using one 8-ounce ladle per bowl.  Top each bowl with grated parmesan and stand two crostini in each bowl with one end above the level of the soup for easy grabbing.  Enjoy!