Menestrón (Menestrón)

Name: Menestrón
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 90 min
Total time: 120 min
Yield: 4 servings
Cuisine: Peru
Ingredients: 1 kg beef brisket, in large pieces; 2 cups basil leaves, 1 cup spinach, 1 red and 1 white onion and 4 garlic cloves; ½ cup each of green beans, broad beans and green lima beans, 1 cup pumpkin, 1 cup cabbage, 1 carrot and 1 turnip, diced; 300 g cassava, 3 potatoes and 2 corn cobs in slices; 200 g short tube pasta (canuto); 150 g queso fresco and 50 g Parmesan

Overview

Menestrón is the Peruvian version of minestrone, a thick beef and vegetable soup coloured green with basil. Beef brisket is simmered for about an hour, then a long list of vegetables goes into the pot: green beans, broad beans, lima beans, pumpkin, cabbage, carrot, turnip, leek and celery, followed by cassava, white potatoes and slices of corn on the cob. Meanwhile red and white onion and plenty of garlic are softened in a pan, cooked briefly with spinach and basil and blended with oil and queso fresco into a Lima-style pesto. Short tube pasta goes into the soup with the green sauce for the last minutes, and it is served with crumbled fresh cheese and Parmesan.

History

Italian immigrants, many of them from Genoa, arrived in Peru in growing numbers in the mid nineteenth century and opened shops and pulperías in Lima. They brought minestrone and pesto with them, and over time Peruvian cooks added native ingredients such as cassava, corn and potatoes and made the green sauce with spinach and fresh cheese, the same sauce used for tallarines verdes. Menestrón is now a home soup for the cold months on the Peruvian coast.

Main ingredients

Beef brisket, basil, spinach, broad beans, cassava, queso fresco. The soup is built on green basil and beef broth and is usually served hot. Diet: contains meat; not usually gluten-free.

Explore: Bean soups · Beef soups · Spinach and greens soups · More soups from Peru

Recipe

4Serves

2 h30 prep · 90 cook

~520kcal / serving

MediumDifficulty

Method

1
50 min
Simmer the beef in 3 l water for 50 minutes, skimming.
2
15 min
Add the beans, pumpkin, cabbage, carrot and turnip, cook for 15 minutes, then add the cassava, potatoes and corn.
3
Soften the onions and garlic, add the spinach and basil, then blend with a little oil and the queso fresco.
4
10 min
Add the pasta and the green sauce to the pot and cook for 10 minutes until the pasta is tender.
5
Serve topped with crumbled cheese and Parmesan.
✓
Serve. About 2 h from start to bowl.

Sources

Description, history and recipe written by SoupWiki and checked against the sources above. Calories and times are rough estimates.