The slow cooker is a mainstay of modern American cooking — but it's not just you and me firing up the Crock-Pot on a weeknight. Famous chefs and celebrities are not above its charms, and this week we're bringing you five recipes from five kitchen stars that show off their favorite ways to put the slow cooker to good use.

Hugh calls this Southern minestrone from his new cookbook, The Chef and the Slow Cooker, "a brothy celebration of all things vegetable," and we have to agree. The star of this celebration? The humble butter bean — a legume that, when cooked properly, becomes nearly as creamy and smooth as its namesake. Butter beans are a staple of Southern food and, in fact, I can think of few things more Southern than a pot of butter beans simmering away on the stove all day long. Acheson captures that essence perfectly in this recipe, designed for the slow cooker rather than your grandma's stockpot.

As for the rest of the veggies, Acheson calls for carrot, celery, tomatoes, and zucchini, but says you can really use whatever you happen to have in the crisper drawer — minestrone is, after all, meant to highlight whatever produce is in season, and this would taste just as good with a bumper crop of summer okra as it would with winter squash.

One thing you shouldn't ad-lib is soaking the beans; that overnight soak in the refrigerator gives those notoriously stubborn dried beans a head start on softening, so that by the time they've been cooking for eight or so hours, they'll be perfectly smooth and soft.

The real game-changer for this soup is found in the finishing touch of pistou, a kind of French pesto sans pine nuts (Acheson makes his with pistachios). In this recipe, it's dolloped on top of the soup and swirled in just before serving.

Verdant basil adds a touch of brightness — both in flavor and in color, thanks to blanching beforehand to preserve its vivid green hue — to the minestrone, and since this recipe only calls for one cup, you'll end up with extra. Acheson recommends using it as a spread on crostini, grilled meat, or poached fish, or even layered into pasta. It keeps for about a week in the fridge, so you should probably just try it on a little bit of everything while you have it handy, right?

Southern minestrone at its finest is a brothy celebration of all things vegetable, with a bright basil pistou stirred in to finish. You can tweak this recipe to use whatever you have in the crisper drawer. Remember that minestrone, like many soups, tastes better the next day, heated up and served with good crusty bread and some cheese on the side.