It’s the same thing, John.
1 Like
Minestrone = a vegetable soup with pasta or rice included.
Minestra = a vegetable soup with fish or meat included.
Minestrone is only one of many minestra soups.
In our house we usually cook a minestrone. No cream. However, we also cook chowders that may or may not include cream of some sort. In any case, I usually start any soup with a soffritto that includes pancetta or anchovies, depending.
Some information…
1 Like
in cooking school, when we made minestrone, we were instructed to make a paste-like substance of raw garlic, spinach chiffonade, parmesan, and olive oil. you add it to each serving and it melts into the hot soup in the most wonderful way. just a tip! 
2 Likes
The kale that’s most popular in the US is the same as you’re describing:
I’m rarely without it.
1 Like
Minestrone is popular at our house - it comes with Italian Sausage & Swiss Chard. Sometimes the grocery has a few packages of mushrooms that have turned a bit at the edges & they’re marked half off. That means Cream Of Mushroom soup at our house.
1 Like
Either or. Sometimes coconut milk based, sometimes stock and cream, never any other thickener added, if I want it thick, I’ll puree a little of what’s in it and add back in. And I love clear, strong chicken soup, with fresh veggies added at the end, along with fresh dill and lots of meat tossed back in.
1 Like
Sounds like there are many ways to ‘skin that cat.’
1 Like
We’d bought some just before Xmas, intending it as a vegetable with some dinner or other. It didnt get used but went straight into the post-Xmas soup - stock from cooking the ham, assorted root veg that were around. Tastes lovely.
1 Like
I used to do stock only and no butter either since my husband was allergic. Soups were great. Ah, but then his allergy magically went away and every time I’m making anything I flash to - oh, wait, I can use dairy!! I have to say though, that while I do now use butter and oil for browning, I still stick mostly to stock. Except for one thing - tomato soup. Cream of tomato soup is pure heaven!
1 Like
I’m a soup fanatic but much more of a broth based soup fan but will occasionally finish a soup with cream. I’m not generally a cream fan so actually prefer to use purred veggies for the creaminess factor
2 Likes
I generally prefer thicker soups/stews to thin ones that are just broth with stuff floating in it, although I make exceptions if the broth is spicy. I thicken with cream or puréed vegetables as suits the recipe.
2 Likes
I love broth, usually chicken based. Sometimes I don’t even get past the broth stage because it’s so simple yet complex.
2 Likes
<rice is added to “cream” of asparagus or broccoli soup. It works very nicely.>
< rice is added to “cream” of asparagus or broccoli soup. It works very nicely. >
So do small white beans, which are a plus for protein and fiber. They puree well.
I also use them, without pureeing, in corn chowder and clam chowder, instead of potato.
What with the healthier options of beans and barley, I haven’t used noodles or rice in soup for many years.
1 Like
About 85% of my soup are broth based, while the rest is with cream, like ham, mushroom, pumpkin or certain soup with cheese.
By the way, do you count noodles as soups? I love making noodles, but personally I don’t consider them as soup. But many soup recipe books list them.
My Vietnamese beef Pho is really good. No MSG, but need lots of bones, meat as soup base. I think restaurants couldn’t make money if they sell my Pho.
1 Like
Do you like soup that are mixed, smooth or with bits and pieces?
I like both, but hubby dislike soup with pieces (not talking about noodle here), he considered non-mixed soups not as soups.
1 Like
Butternut squash soup. No cream necessary, but can be added if you like at the end. In fact when I make it in the house, we have one lactose intolerant person, and I leave it out for them. If I want to thicken up or “cream out” the soup a little bit, I add some instant mashed potato flakes.
One butternut squash , peeled , seeded and cubed.
One medium Leek, coarse chopped
One Medium Yellow onion, coarse chopped
4 cups of vegetable or chicken stock
4 cups of water
2 tbls. EVOO
salt and pepper to taste
Cayenne pepper of you want a little kick.
Sweat onions and leek in a 6 quart pot with the EVOO
Add squash, stock, and water and bring to a boil. Simmer for 30 minutes until the squash breaks apart with a fork.
Remove from stove and utilize a stick blender to process the soup.
Add chream when served, some cayenne if so desired.
A blender can be used if you do not have a stick blender, but be real careful, and perhaps let the soup cool a bit.
2 Likes
Italians also use the description in brodo to refer to many pastas served in broth, like tortellini in brodo or passatelli in brodo.
Also, for Italians (or maybe just older Italians) the word zuppa would be reserved for vegetables + bread cooked in a water-based liquid. I’ve seen the term zuppetta and I don’t know what if any difference there is between that and a zuppa. The link provided by catholiver indicates a few more fine distinctions between various minestrone.
That’s just Italy, and I only have a very vague idea of how, say, the Japanese talk about this when it comes to noodles in broth, or Germans. (Nudelsuppen?)
1 Like
Minestrone is counted as soup, as the proportion of pasta or rice is much inferior than say, a Chinese or Japanese noodle (soup). For the Asian, the noodle or rice with soup is a complete meal.
I’m not sure I would phrase it that way, or that an Italian would understand it that way. Some Italiams might expect you to serve them a soup with bread in it if you offered them zuppa.
Also, the dish passatelli in brodo from Emilia-Romagna has a very large ratio of noodles to broth:
3 Likes
Here’s the pho bo recipe I use. From Andrea Nguyen. After fixing this for several years I actually found the pho in Vietnam not as good as hers!
1 Like
