Need some help with minestrone

[SheilaT]

I'm making minestrone today, will be including pasta shells. My question is, do I put them in dry? Or cook them first? At what point do I add them?

Thanking everyone in advance. I know I'll get good advice.

I do make a fair number of basic soups, but I've never made minestrone before. In case anyone cares, it's to be served at the homeless shelter this evening.

[PoliticAverse]

1. The advantage of cooking them separately is that you have much better control

over their final texture. But I think most people cook the pasta with the soup and try
to time it by adding the dry pasta about 15 minutes before the soup is done cooking.

If this is the first time you are doing it and you are doing a lot I'd go with separate.

[Goblinmonger]

2. I agree with above

I tend to like just cooking all the pasta separately, perhaps a touch before al dente. Then just add it with enough time before serving to heat up the pasta. I usually do this only with the amount of soup that will be eaten.

I find that cooking the pasta in the soup causes the starch to make the soup too thick.

Leaving the pasta in the soup as leftovers makes the pasta mushy.

[SheilaT]

3. Thanks, guys.

I'll do it that way. As it is, the soup is going to be served over a two hour period, possibly longer. But I'll cook the pasta here at home and bring it separate from the soup.

I appreciate the help.

[Warpy]

4. The dry pasta was always the last thing I added

unless for some reason I was cleaning out the fridge and threw in green peas or other tender veg. I did find the flavor was better and the soup thickened slightly when I cooked the pasta in it.

Minestrone is a great soup to serve at a shelter. Pasta e fagioli is another great one. Both are incredibly hearty and feature beans and pasta for good, complete protein. Both reheat if for some weird reason there are leftovers.

[SheilaT]

5. And this is the vegetarian choice for today.

It's basically made, I've cooked the pasta and that's in a zip-lock bag to be added later. When I get to the shelter I'll heat up the soup (right now it's in the frig), add another box of vegetable broth, then just as we start serving I'll throw in the pasta.

The very interesting thing about this homeless shelter gig is that I've gotten quite good at cooking large quantities. Right now I'm taking a break from slicing up a couple of heads of lettuce for tomorrow's coleslaw to go with the wienie roast. Cooking in large quantities REALLY brings home home much cheaper it is to cook from scratch. I used a bag of dried red beans and just did the quick cook thing with them. I'd say I've made a very large pot of soup for under ten dollars. It's kind of hard to know, since I don't specifically price out each ingredient and of course I already have spices here.

I'm probably going to be posting a couple more questions in a few days.

[japple]

6. I love minestrone, and just made some yesterday, but mine was not authentic.

I didn't put in any pasta. It had onions, garlic, one yellow squash, one zucchini, one carrot, one turnip, cannellini beans, and tomatoes. I cooked it in chicken stock. It's pretty good, but not as good as the stuff I make a couple weeks ago using the last jar of the tomatoes I canned last summer.

[dem in texas]

7. Done it both ways

I have added the pasta dry and also precooked it before adding. Adding precooked gives the best results. I usually make it when I have some left over white northern beans, One of my favorite soups.

[SheilaT]

8. Report on my minestrone.

The pasta, even though already cooked, REALLY absorbed the liquid. Only about half was served tonight, so I'm going to add another box of vegetable broth when I go to the shelter tomorrow and heat it back up.

[Blues Heron]

9. That happened to me a few batches back

Got greedy and put in a second handful, it drank all the broth and took over the soup! now I make sure to put in 1/4 cup dry at most (for about 1/2 gal of soup) I put it in dry about 10-12 minutes before the end of cooking time.