Nana's Vegetable Soup

   We have comfort foods - those foods  we want to eat to feel better.  They often are the foods we had when we were young and our parents (usually our mothers) gave us.  This often means there is a strong cultural element to a comfort food.  Also, as humans are programmed to prefer sweets (breast milk is incredibly sweet) it is not too surprising that many comfort foods are often sweets.

When I was an intern in pediatrics I often worked for 40 days in a row, and was up for 36 hours every 4 days.  Some of those nights I would feel VERY sorry for myself and found myself reaching back to my childhood for a favorite comfort food.  Since I worked on a pediatric ward, we kept snacks that kids would like.  Many a night around 3 AM I would find myself raiding the kitchen for whole milk (which I had stopped drinking years ago) and graham crackers.  I would break up the crackers, pour the milk over them, eat them like cereal and go back to work, feeling energized.  (The adult wards had coffee and saltines; definitely not comfort foods in my book.)

Another huge category of comfort foods for me is soups, which is healthier and the comfort food category I passed on to my daughter; the one I would recommend over graham crackers and milk for your children.  Whenever it is raining, as it has been in LA, I start to want to make and eat soup.  My first choice is chicken soup.  (I found out as a married woman that my chicken soup isn't really chicken soup, but that is a story for another blog.)  But all my mother's grand kids love her vegetable soup so I decided to make minestrone this weekend.

I don't remember my mother making vegetable soup for me as child.  But for some reason, every time one of her grand kids comes over, she got into the habit of making them vegetable soup.  So they all see Nana's Vegetable Soup as a special treat.  Since my mother is Milanese by birth, I assumed she made a minestrone.  When my daughter was in elementary school I decided to make a minestrone soup, something I hadn't made before.  I went to the Farmer's Market, got fresh vegetables and served it for dinner that night.  I was informed it was not as good as Nana's.

 For years I bugged my mom to give me her recipe.  I finally got it and it is below.   I have also included mine.  I (of course!) think my is far superior.  It is also a lot more work.  All the grandchildren think hers is the better of the two.  My suggestion would be to start giving your infants hers from an early age instead of mine.  It's easy to make, good for them and a great comfort food for them to continue to want to eat, and make,  when they are adults.  However, the picture above is my recipe which is what we had this weekend.

                                                      NANA'S VEGETABLE SOUP
Put the following ingredients in a pot:
1 cup raw rice
1 can small, white beans
1 package frozen broccoli and cauliflower
1/2 package frozen green beans
1 package frozen carrots and peas
!/2 head of cabbage sliced
2 diced zucchini
1 cubed potato
                                                      1 stalk of celery, sliced
                                                      1 tomato, diced

Add 2 quart cans of chicken broth, 1 quart can of beef broth.  Cook for about 1 hour and serve.  If there is any left over, you can put it in the freezer where the frozen foods were.


MY MINESTRONE
(It takes about 1 hour to prepare and then 3-4 hours to cook with occasional stirring.)  I make a huge pot and then freeze the extra so this recipe makes about 2 gallons.
Add the following ingredients.  I add them in the order listed; as the one I added is cooking, I  prepare the next one.  It saves time.

Coat the bottom of your largest soup pot with olive oil and add 2 tbsp butter to it.  Add:
2 thinly sliced onions
1 leek, white part only (if available)
1 cup sliced celery
1 cup diced carrots
1 parsnip (if available)
1/2 cup diced green beans
1 bunch bok choy sliced thin (if available)
3 zucchini, sliced
2 lbs waxy potatoes, diced (liked red potatoes or Yukon)
3 tomatoes
1 cabbage (savoy or Napa)
1 cup peas
1 cup cannellini (white) beans

You can add or subtract vegetables as you like.   The amounts are all approximations.   I only use fresh vegetables available at the Farmers Market.  Because you cook it for so long, the flavors blend together.  There are a few things that are important.  You do need some form of cabbage and potatoes. It gives the soup substance.  And I recommend beans and/or rice which then makes it a meal.  You can use canned beans which you add towards the end, or if you can remember, soak them the night before and cook with the soup.   If the vegetable has a strong taste, use if sparingly.

Add chicken pieces, beef soup bones, salt to taste (start with 1 tbsp) and cover with water.  If you have the rind of a piece of Parmesan cheese, throw it in now.
Cook for 3-4 hours.  You can serve it the day it is made, but it tastes even better the next day.