Hello lovelies,
there's one dish my kids are always instantly on hand for: minestrone with girasoli. Why of all things vegetable soup is the big favorite, I can't quite say – they just love it, the same way they never question the vegetables hidden in my gnocchi with cauliflower and parsnip. The key is what goes in it: filled girasoli, little sunflower-shaped pasta parcels that only need to steep briefly in the hot soup.
The soup itself is wonderfully uncomplicated: I sweat an onion, add colorful vegetables – fennel, peas, carrots and cabbage – and let everything roast for a moment. Then the vegetable broth goes in and the minestrone simmers until the vegetables are soft. Right at the end the vegan girasoli steep in the hot soup until warmed through. That way the vegetables stay firm to the bite and the pasta stays tender. When I cook the soup ahead I leave the girasoli out and add them only on reheating, otherwise they go soft. That trick and all the storage times are under cooking soups and stews ahead.
We serve it with a few hemp seeds for crunch – totally delicious and very practical, because the soup tastes almost even better the next day. I just add the girasoli fresh then, so they stay lovely and tender. A versatile recipe: on cooler days I like to add a few white beans, which makes the minestrone really filling; when it is too warm for a pot of soup, fresh peas go into my South Tyrolean bread salad with strawberries instead, layered with strawberries and elderflowers on soaked Schüttelbrot.
This minestrone is part of my favorite warming soup recipes for the whole family. If you like, try my hearty minestrone with savoy cabbage and white beans or the warming carrot-lentil soup too – both are quick to make and bring plenty of vegetables to the spoon. This minestrone has a firm place among my recipes for tired evenings, where the formula behind it lives too.
