Hearty Minestrone Soup

The cookbook pic!

 

From: The Illustrated Quick Cook

INGREDIENTS

• 2 Tbls Olive Oil
• 2 Onions, finely chopped
• 3 Garlic Cloves, finely chopped
• 4 Celery Ribs, finely chopped
• 4 Carrots, finely chopped
• 9 oz pancetta, cut in small cubes
• Handful Flat Parsley, finely chopped
• Handful Fresh Sage, finely chopped
• 2 Tbls Tomato Paste
• 1 Can Chopped Tomatoes (28 oz)
• 2 Can cannelloni beans (14 oz each) rinsed and drained well
• 2 Cup Chicken Broth
• 10 oz Frozen Green Beans
• 8 oz Frozen Peas
• 10 oz Small pasta shapes

DIRECTIONS

• Use a pot large enough to hold everything.
• Heat the oil
• Add onions cook 6-8 min
• Add garlic, celery and carrots cook 10 minutes
• Add pancetta, cook 5 minutes or until brown
• Add herbs, tomato paste & canned beans. Season w/ salt and pepper
• Add stock, bring to a boil then cover w/ lid and simmer for 35 minutes
• Add Green beans and peas cook for additional 5 minutes
• Let cool completely before transferring to freezer safe container
• Freezes 3 months
• To serve, defrost overnight in fridge then transfer to large sauce pan. Add pasta and simmer until pasta is cooked to your liking. Top with parmesan.

Few things to add with this one. See all that ‘finely chopped’ stuff? The Pampered Chef Food Chopper is a MUST have. We flew through the prep and had this simmering away in minimal time, with all of our fingers in tact.

What are cannelloni beans? They are white beans in cans, quite popular. Sound it out while looking at the canned beans section you will find them! The recipe actually called for borlotti or cranberry beans, but my small town food store didn’t carry them. So I went with what I knew to have neutral flavor with enough meat to hold up to a soup.

Also, frozen peas and green beans don’t come in 8 or 10 oz so I got the closest I could and used the whole bag. It’s ok. It just made the soup chunkier with nutritious goods like veggies!

 

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