On a recent cold and blustery afternoon I headed to my local corner store to look for ingredients to make a warming, vegetable soup, my version of minestrone.
Papa Joe and Co, at 196 Darling Street, Balmain, didn’t disappoint. Everything I needed was there. It is the real thing this shop, not one of those so-called convenience stores flogging cigarettes, chips and lollies. Joe Panetta (the Papa, of course) has been there for 52 years. Just think about that for a moment! And consider how much food retailing has changed over that time. Says a lot that a business is still trading, with a smile, and has adapted along the way.
Joe and his family have Italian heritage and so their grocery lines tend toward the Italian and Mediterranean. They always have good quality fruit and vegetables; the small deli counter more than adequately covers the basics; and there are some homemade items from Joe’s wife’s kitchen. Mama Maria (of course) cooks up seasonal jams, lasagne, raviolis, sauces, soups, arancini and ready-to-go pastas and filled rolls. The shop sells good bread; the fridges and shelves always seem to be stocked with what I need; the flowers are colourful; the papers are today’s. And they carry gluten-free products.
Two of Joe and Maria’s 3 daughters are coeliac and the other is wheat-intolerant. Luisa, who also works in the business, keeps an eye out for new, and tasty, products. You’ll find gluten-free granola, pasta, pastry, biscuits, dumplings, small cakes, flours and much more. Check them out and like them on Facebook @PapaJoeCo. I think they’d appreciate it.
Meanwhile, the soup worked a treat, a gluten-free satisfying meal for my family.
Don’t be put off by the long list of ingredients below. Feel free to alter the amount and variety of vegetables and legumes to suit your taste and what’s in your fridge. Or what you find at your local.
Caren
MINESTRONE FOR THE FAMILY
4 tablespoons olive oil
3 onions, diced
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 carrots, peeled and diced
1 red capsicum, diced
1 small bulb fennel, diced
2 small zucchinis, diced
2 bay leaves
1 small bunch basil leaves
2 tins best quality peeled tomatoes, broken up
500 gm bacon bones in 3-4 pieces, optional (instead try adding 2 teaspoons of smokey paprika)
Sea salt and ground black pepper
100 gm green beans, cut into 2cm lengths
1 cup cooked chickpeas
1 cup cooked red kidney beans
2 cups cooked GF small pasta shapes, tossed in some oil to stop them from sticking. Optional.
50 gm parmesan, finely grated or shaved
Extra virgin olive oil
Heat the olive oil in a large wide pot then add the onions and cook on a medium heat for about 5 minutes until they are soft but not colouring. Add the garlic, carrots, capsicum, fennel and zucchini and fry for 3 minutes. Stir the mix, turn the heat to low, place a lid on the pot and sweat the vegetables for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Add the bay leaves, some shredded basil leaves, the tomatoes, stock or water and the bacon bones or paprika. Bring to just below the boil and then cook for 10 minutes on a medium to low heat. Season to taste.
(The soup can be prepared to this stage, cooled and refrigerated. In fact it will taste better the next day after the flavours have developed. Reheat the soup and then proceed.)
Add the beans, chickpeas and red kidney beans and cook for a further 5 minutes. Add the pasta, if using, at the last minute to warm through.
Remove the large bacon bone pieces and slice between the bones into single bone segments. Either return them to the soup or serve them separately on the side.
Ladle into individual bowls and finish with a dash of virgin olive oil and some more shredded basil leaves. Serve with the parmesan and some gluten-free bread (or the gluten-free grissini from Rosie’s blog or the Knackerbrod from Jan's blog in our Savoury Baking section).
For a vegetarian version of this soup, use vegetable stock or water and omit the bacon bones.