When we talk about combinations, we usually think of appetizers, seafood first courses or with land sauces, second courses of fish or meat. Few times we think of soups , despite being one of the most popular traditional dishes of our cuisine. The vegetable minestrone, despite the various territorial variations, is present in the culinary habits of all the regions of our peninsula. It is, in fact, a poor dish of the peasant tradition, made in every season with products from the garden. There is no single recipe for minestrone and also in the same area it changes according to the seasons and vegetables available at that time. It is impossible to draw up a unique recipe, apart from the presence of beans and potatoes, the other vegetables vary greatly from region to region and according to the months of the year. It can be served hot during the winter months or cold in the summer. The preparation is very simple but rather long and laborious. We start by washing and cleaning the vegetables and then cutting them and pieces. The sauté is then prepared with onion, carrots and celery, finely chopped. Then pour extra virgin olive oil into a saucepan and sauté the sauté together with a bunch of aromatic herbs tied with string. Then put the vegetables in a pan, following the various cooking times, with vegetable broth and cook everything over low heat. When cooked, remove the bunch of aromatic herbs and serve the minestrone with a drizzle of cold EVO oil and possibly with freshly ground pepper.

The vegetable minestrone is a tasty, light and healthy dish, which can be enriched as desired with croutons. It is a dish with little structure, characterized by the delicate taste of vegetables, diluted in the broth. The presence of potatoes and beans gives the minestrone a certain consistency especially for starch, while the other vegetables will help to give a pleasant facet of flavors, in the context of vegetable nuances with notes that tend to be sweet and soft, especially onion, carrot and zucchini. Based on these general considerations, we will choose a young white wine with good freshness and medium persistence , characterized by a bouquet with subtle aromas and a delicate sip. Wines refined in inert materials , steel or cement, which can express the fragrant varietal, floral and fruity aromas, without being weighed down by the notes of the wood, which would be too dominant, will be preferable. We could opt for a young Chardonnay from South Tyrol , a Soave Classico , a Pinot Grigio Friulano , a Lugana , a Müller-Thurgau from Trentino or Alto Adige or a good Trebbiano d'Abruzzo .