Reminiscing

Tired tonight--but it's my own doing.  I'm recovering quite well from my bicycle crash on September 1 and in fact, have been back on the bike for a couple of weeks now.  Today, I biked 32 miles, not up to my pre-injury level by a long shot, but showing continued progress.  It was hard today, cold, windy and I have the sniffles. And, my bike buddies (not having any pity for my woeful lack of conditioning) pushed me a little harder today in an effort to move me to the next level. Did you know that you can sweat in 40 degree weather? So what a glorious surprise when I returned from my outing, walking into the house--exhausted and practically frozen--to smell the most incredible aroma. JD had made minestrone, that wonderful, earthy italian vegetable soup that has been a mainstay in our cooking repertoire for the entire 32 years of married life. This is another of Marcella Hazan's recipes, one that is incredibly easy to prepare yet provides a complexity of flavor that can impress the most discerning palates, but provides comfort to all who taste.

As southerners often do, I prepared a "pone" of cornbread to round out the meal. Since JD and I are empty nesters now and without the appetites of ravenous adolescents, much of the "pone" of cornbread often goes uneaten.  I haven't quite figured out what to do with the leftovers. Sometimes, I'll have a slice the next morning for breakfast, and of course, you can save in the freezer for southern cornbread dressing.  We always say we're going to reheat for the next meal, but that never really seems to happen. So, as JD and I were pondering our leftover dilemma, I thought back to the ritual of my parents when faced with leftover cornbread--they had it as dessert! As a child, I thought their concoction was "gross" (that was the word back then), or at best bizzare.  Now, I realize it was a real effort to be frugal and mindful of God's bounty. They were exceptionally adept at finding a use for every last morsel of  food, leftover or not.  I haven't yet reached that point of mindfulness. I've been spoiled, I've never had to scrimp and scrape by. I waste too much food.  But, I'm trying to do better.  I'm making a real effort to buy only what I intend to cook. So, this time, I'm going to figure out a way to savor every last bite of that delicious cornbread!  I still can't do what my parents did--crumbled cornbread, smothered by buttermilk, served in a tall iced-tea glass, eaten with a long, skinny iced-tea spoon.*** (see below)  Does anyone still drink buttermik?  I only buy it to use in cornbread, or biscuits, or occasionally pancakes, but never to drink! It seems to save forever, so it never goes to waste. How can sour milk go bad? In all seriousness, I cook enough with buttermilk that I don't have to worry about expiration dates (unlike water chestnuts!).

As I've said before, JD and I have been married a long time, and I think we have talked about everything there is to talk about, but every now and then something comes up, some little tidbit of information, that is totally new, something we didn't know about our childhood, our parents, our siblings. As we were talking about the cornbread/buttermilk dessert concoction, JD exclaimed that his parents would have never stooped to the level of eating something so "country".  But, in the same breath, he shared that when his father was out of town, his mother (sorry Faye), would eat leftover cornbread with an onion, munching on that strong, white onion as if it were an apple.  Cornbread is just too delicious to be discarded, no matter what!

*** I guess I should have used the proper terminology when speaking about that venerable southern drink--it's "ice tea" (not 'iced') or, even more southern "sweettea" (one word).  As in "honey, come on in the house and have a glass of "ice tea" or "there's a pitcher of "sweettea" sittin on the kitchen table". Something must have gotten mixed up with my southern genes, because I can't stand "sweettea".

Minestrone, a vegetarian version based on Marcella Hazan's Minestrone Alla Romagnola from the Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking

Uniformly chop vegetables (1/4 to 1/2 inch chop)

1 lb zucchini
1/2 cup e.v.olive oil
3 tablespoon butter
1 cup onion (sliced thinly)
1 cup carrots
1 cup celery
2 cups potatoes (I use yukon gold)
1/2 pound  fresh green beans (chopped into 1" pieces)
3 cups shredded Savoy cabbage or regular cabbage

1/2 cup canned cannellini beans or 3/4 cup dried white kidney beans soaked and cooked (or two 15 oz cans)
6 cups vegetable broth
2/3 cups Italian plum tomatoes with juice
1/3 cup grated parmigiano cheese
salt
Optional: 1 crust from a 2lbs parmigiano reggiano cheese

Method

1. heat oil and butter
2. Add onion in pot and cook in medium heat until pale gold in color.

The vegetables are added in sequence, stirred and cooked under low heat for 2-3 mins.

3. Add carrots, stir and cook for 2-3 mins.
4. Add celery, potatoes, green beans, then zucchini (each stirred and cooked for 2-3 mins).
5. Add cabbage and cook for 5-6 mins
6. Add broth , cheese crust(if used), tomatoes & juice and salt. (can season with additional salt later)
7. Cover pot and once it starts to bubble,stir, cover and simmer slowly for 2.5 hrs. Check and stir frequently. Add cannelli beans or kidney beans, stir and simmer for 30 mins.
8. Dilute with homemade broth or water if too dense and season with salt to taste.
9. Remove the cheese crust before turning off heat. Swirl in grated cheese.

The above is for 6-8 servings. This soup tastes even better the
second day.  It freezes well.