Shoulder-Season Minestrone with Mini Gnocchi

For when we're neither here nor there

I’m not sure if the season we’re in right now is technically ”shoulder season,” but that’s what I like to call it. 

According to the dictionary, shoulder season is the travel period between peak-season and off-season when you can snag good deals on hotels and airfare. But this lament of summer’s end confirmed my opinion that it's more of a threshold between one season and another. Though we’re solidly into fall and on the cusp of Halloween, in many ways, it feels like we haven’t completely left summer behind.

I know this may be a little different for you depending on where you live, but here on the East Coast, the weather has been unseasonably warm (almost spookily so), except for a few brisk days that I wasn’t ready for. As a result, the farmer’s markets and farm stands are overflowing with what seems like produce from every season of the year. 

Ah, my favorite time of year… I love it when the corn sidles up next to the winter squash, and the last of the beefsteaks mingle with the new crisp apples (see background, above right)

Even some tender spring things can make a little comeback in the fall under the right conditions. Just this past Sunday, I bought the most fragrant little strawberries at the Tompkins Square Greenmarket. I had to! And they were delicious. Tomatoes and corn are still abundant where I live, and still good, too. We haven’t even had enough cold nights to turn the tomatoes mealy. 

Every day so far this week, it’s been warm enough for me to have my lunch at the beach. Yet despite the warm weather, the reality of fall instantly puts me in the mood for soup. In fact, soup in a thermos is what I packed for lunch on each of those days. 

I’m sure I don’t need to convince you that soup is a near-perfect food. Once you’ve made a batch, you have many meals ready, and because of the sheer variety of vegetables involved (in this particular soup, anyway), you're packing in all kinds of nutrition. 

Although I’ve given a full tutorial in the past about the basic techniques and principles for making soup with any vegetable, today I’m giving you a more prescribed recipe that’s directly inspired by an Italian minestrone. 

All my veggies for this soup gathered together. Feel free to change them up to suit your taste or what you have on hand. My herb garden is still quite alive. You could use a pinch of dried oregano if you don’t have any fresh herbs, or use chopped parsley as a finishing, freshening touch.

Traditionally, minestrone will have both beans and pasta in addition to a variety of vegetables, along with tomatoes to flavor the broth.  In this version, I’ve included the less traditional winter squash, because I love the body and richness it lends to any soup, thickening it as it breaks down. 

This soup can also be made with canned tomatoes, but after making a batch recently with some big, juicy fresh tomatoes that had to be used, I loved the fresher, cleaner flavor it lent to the concoction.  

My supermarket has a separate DeLallo section with some nice Italian products. Other, larger gnocchi options will be found in the pasta aisle (for a shelf-stable version) or in the refrigerated pasta section for a fresh version. Any small pasta shape can work here too. Ditalini is perfect, and you could also try orecchiette, which may take a little longer to cook in step four. Test the pasta for doneness before moving on to the next step.

Here’s something else that feels fresh: As I strolled the supermarket aisle in search of a small pasta shape that I haven’t used to death (looking at you, ditalini), I was stopped in my tracks at the DeLallo display by a package of mini gnocchi. These would be just perfect in soup, I thought — and they are! They are almost exactly the size of the beans, which was kinda cute. I also like that they don’t suck all the liquid out of any leftover soup, as pasta will. 

I do hope you’ll refer to my post on Any Vegetable Soup to make this recipe your own. You can definitely change the exact veggies you use, or cut one or two out, or yes, use the more traditional pasta instead of the gnocchi. 

Either way, making soup is one of my favorite ways to meal prep, as then I always have a base for a meal. My husband, Steve, is away for six whole weeks, so I’ll be cooking for one for a while! Once I have a big batch of soup ready, I usually freeze half of it, or you can freeze in single-serve containers if you prefer. 

My other favorite make-ahead secret weapon is my turkey burger/meatball mixture. I haven’t shared the recipe, because I am afraid people would find it too complicated. Tell me in the comments if I should share it even if it’s a little involved! After using it for a few days to make some meatballs to stir into a version of this soup, I decided to freeze the rest in burger-size portions so I’ll always have a quick meal in a pinch. The recipe yields so much that the initial work is totally worth it!

In any case, this sturdy soup is the perfect thing to have bubbling away in a cauldron — or, more likely, in a pot on the stove or in a slow cooker — come Halloween night. It can fill little bellies quickly before trick-or-treating, feed a crowd if you’re doing a little entertaining, or sustain you if you’re home passing out candy. Plus, there should be plenty to last all weekend long — and in my opinion, leftovers this good are a pretty magical thing. 

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Notes and substitutions

• Prep as you go along when making soup. Get the onions going and then keep prepping in the order the veggies appear in the recipe

• If you don’t have (or don’t want to mess with) peeled tomatoes, use a roughly equal amount of canned or boxed chopped tomatoes instead. I love Pomì’s 13.8-ounce box when I don’t need a lot

• To peel fresh tomatoes, cut an X on the bottom of each tomato, then lower into boiling water until you see the skin starting to peel back. The exact time will depend on the ripeness of the tomato. Remove from water, and remove the skin, it will peel right off!

• Fresh shell beans are great here, but if that’s not doable, add one can of drained cannellini beans along with the zucchini and green beans

• As usual, I added a blob of Better Than Bouillon (chicken flavor) along with the water

• Use pre-peeled squash for a shortcut. If the pieces are huge, cut them down a little

• If you have a Parmesan rind lying around, throw it in the pot for added flavor

• Any brand or type of store-bought gnocchi works here. It can be shelf-stable or refrigerated

• If you have any herbs left in the garden, sprinkle them on top; I used fennel and parsley

• Finish each serving with shaved or grated parm, and a drizzle of olive oil

• Serve some chunky sourdough on the side

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Soup 101

Creamy But Cream-less Vegetable Soups

If you’re in a soup-making mood, check out my “no-recipe” guidelines for any pureed vegetable soup. You’ll also find two banger recipes to try— an Eat Your Greens soup that’s packed with broccoli, leeks, celery, and zucchini, and a Velvety Butternut Cauliflower soup that’s colorful and nourishing.

Any Vegetable Soup

This video tutorial and step-by-step guide will help you turn out a delicious soup with whatever vegetables you have in the fridge, or whatever looks best at the farmer’s market this week.

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ICYMI

I recently had the pleasure of joining Claire Saffitz on an episode of her YouTube Series, Dessert Person. Together, we made the Caramelized Onion and Potato Galette from Veg Forward. This dish pairs buttery pastry crust with earthy potatoes, sweet onions, and two types of cheese (goat and Gruyère). It’s a great savory dish to tuck into on a crisp fall day, so if you don’t make it now, bookmark it for when the temps inevitably cool down.

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Shoulder-Season Minestrone with Mini Gnocchi