Recipe: Appetizing Minestrone Soup

Minestrone Soup. Heat the olive oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. A huge success with the family and guests. Add more tomato paste for a thicker, more stewlike minestrone.

Tomatoes, carrots, onion, and celery are usually included, with other vegetables added at the cook's discretion. Pancetta (optional) - since minestrone is a vegetable soup it's a perfect meal for lent. So pancetta, guanciale or lard cut in cubes is completely optional, but it gives an incredible rich, intense flavor to the veggies as if they were cooked in meat stock (which by the way is also an option). You can have Minestrone Soup using 20 ingredients and 4 steps. Here is how you cook it.

Ingredients of Minestrone Soup

1. It's 2 tbsp. of olive oil.
2. Prepare 1 tbsp. of unsalted butter.
3. You need 2 of large carrots, peeled and diced.
4. Prepare 2 stalks of celery, diced.
5. You need 1/2 of yellow onion, diced.
6. It's 4 cloves of garlic, minced.
7. It's 1/4 cup (2 oz.) of tomato paste.
8. You need 1/2 tsp. of each oregano, dried basil.
9. Prepare 1/4 tsp. of ground thyme.
10. Prepare 1 can (28 oz.) of fire roasted crushed tomatoes.
11. You need 4 cups of unsalted vegetable broth.
12. You need 2 of bay leaves.
13. It's 3/4 tsp. of salt.
14. You need 1/4 tsp. of pepper.
15. It's 2 of small potatoes, scrubbed and diced.
16. Prepare 1 of zucchini, diced.
17. Prepare 1 of yellow squash, diced.
18. It's 1 can (15 oz.) of unsalted cannellini beans, drained and rinsed.
19. Prepare 1 cup of ditalini pasta (or other small shape).
20. It's 2 of heaping cups spinach, roughly chopped.

Add the onion, carrot, and celery. Add the garlic and cook a minute more. Reheat the soup, thinning it with water as desired. Serve the soup with the Parmesan, the bruschetta , and the sausages.

Minestrone Soup instructions

1. In a large pot over medium heat, add the olive oil and the butter. Once it's hot and the butter has melted, stir in the onions, celery and carrot with a big pinch of salt. Cook, stirring occasionally until they have begun to soften up, about 3-5 minutes. Then stir in the tomato paste, garlic, oregano, thyme and basil. Cook about 2-3 minutes more, stirring pretty often..
2. Pour a bit of the broth in and deglaze the pan. Then the rest with the crushed tomatoes and bay leaves. Increase the heat to med-high and let this come up to a simmer. Once its simmering, stir in the beans, potatoes, zucchini and yellow squash along with the salt and pepper. Let this all simmer together until the veggies are all tender. Last, take out the bay leaves and stir in the chopped spinach and let it wilt down. Taste and add more salt, pepper, etc until you're happy with the flavor..
3. While the soup is coming to a simmer, heat a separate pot of salted water over high heat. Once its boiling, cook the ditalini pasta according to package directions, then drain and set it aside until the soup is done..
4. To serve, you can stir the cooked pasta into the soup, or if you're going to have a lot of leftovers, you can just keep them separate and add the pasta to individual bowls and pour the soup over top of it... that way the pasta won't absorb all the liquid..

My minestrone soup is loaded with good for you veggies, like spinach and zucchini. It's also protein packed with red kidney beans and great northern beans. Indulge in a warming bowl of minestrone soup with one of our wholesome recipes. Pack in the vegetables, pasta and your favourite added extras for an easy lunch or supper. Olive Garden Minestrone Soup is the perfect soup for when wanting a light and filling meal.