Minestrone Soup

I my opinion Minestrone Soup is an exercise in using up veggies that are on their last legs. Definitely reconsider those tired looking vegetables destined for the bin and transform them into my Minestrone Soup . You can use my suggestions or pretty much any of your own. Sautéed in good quality olive oil , with the  addition of a few simple flavorings,  Minestrone Soup is an easy and inexpensive go to Winter meal. This one is for you Abby.

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Minestrone Soup

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Rating: 4
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Course

Main Dish, Starters

Cuisine

Vegetarian

Prep Time

15 minutes

Cook Time

4-6 hours

Servings

Ingredients

• 1 large brown onion diced
• 3 celery sticks diced
• 2 or 3 carrots diced
• 2 or 3 potatoes diced
• 1 handful green beans top & tailed & cit into 1cm pieces
• 2 zucchinis diced
• 1/4 savoy cabbage shredded
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 3 beef stock cubes crumbled
• 2 400g cans whole tomatoes with the liquid
• 1 400g can cannellini beans or butter beans
• 45g butter
• salt
• pepper
• 1 Parmesan rind optional

Course Main Dish, Starters Cuisine Vegetarian Prep Time 15 minutes Cook Time 4-6 hours Servings Ingredients 1 large brown onion diced 3 celery sticks diced 2 or 3 carrots diced 2 or 3 potatoes diced 1 handful green beans top & tailed & cit into 1cm pieces 2 zucchinis diced 1/4 savoy cabbage shredded 1/2 cup olive oil 3 beef stock cubes crumbled 2 400g cans whole tomatoes with the liquid 1 400g can cannellini beans or butter beans 45g butter salt pepper 1 Parmesan rind optional

Votes: 1 Rating: 4 You: Rate this recipe!

Instructions

1. Heat the olive oil in a large stock pot and gently sauté the vegetables in the order they appear in the ingredients list allowing about 3 minutes between each addition.
2. Slice the tomatoes into random chunks in their cans and add them to the vegetables (don’t use cans of diced tomatoes as you will lose the rustic appearance of the homemade soup).

   
3. Add the parmesan rind at this stage making sure to scrape away the thin outer layer of wax. (the parmesan rind will add extra flavour to the soup but definitely not essential)

   
4. Fill the pot almost to the top with water and add the stock cubes and salt & pepper to taste (you may need 2 or 3 teaspoons of salt as it is a large pot). Bring to the boil, then lower to a very gentle simmer and cook with the lid on for 4 to 6 hours. The flavour in this soup will continue to develop. The longer you cook it, the stronger the flavour.

   
5. About 10 minutes before serving, add the cannellini beans and the 45g of butter. Taste test for seasoning during the cooking *You can wrap your Parmesan rind in plastic and store it in the freezer for future use

Recipe Notes

Don't discard your Parmesan when its finished. When you have extracted all of the cheese from the block, place the rind in a freezer bag and freeze for use in your minestrone.

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