Winter Minestrone

Minestrone is a very versatile soup. With only a few basic ingredients—pasta, beans, stock, vegetables—you can create a beautiful, hearty soup. What you do with it is really up to your imagination. This is one of our favorite versions, a delicious soup for the winter months. We like to have this with Three Day Crusty Hard Rolls.

[Updated March 28, 2009]

Equipment

8 to 10 quart stock pot
sharp knife
food processor (I like how the food processor perfectly shreds the cabbage.)

Ingredients

3 tablespoons olive oil
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic
1 large celery stalk, chopped
1 tablespoon dried basil
1 teaspoon dried or fresh rosemary
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1/4 cup pearl barley
2 potatoes, diced
2 large carrots, diced
2 quarts (~2 liters) vegetable stock
1 teaspoon kosher salt
3 or 4 grinds of fresh black pepper
1 (16 ounce/454 g) package frozen yellow squash or fresh turnip chunks
1 (15.5 ounce/439 g) can cannellini or kidney beans, drained and rinsed
2/3 cup small pasta, your choice
1 (14.5 ounce/411g) can diced tomatoes
1 (6 ounce/170 g) can tomato paste
a few sprigs of parsley
2 cups shredded green cabbage
fresh grated Parmesan cheese

Preparation

1. Saute onion, celery, garlic, basil, rosemary, oregano, thyme in oil until onion is soft. Add the barley, potatoes, carrots, and stock and bring to a boil. Cover, and simmer for 20 minutes.

2. Add squash; cover and simmer 20 more minutes. Mix in beans, pasta, tomatoes, tomato paste, and parsley. Bring to a boil, cover, gently boil until pasta is cooked (15 minutes).

3. Add cabbage and cook, uncovered, until cabbage is tender-crisp (5 minutes). Remove the parsley sprigs. Salt and pepper to taste. Top with grated Parmesan cheese and serve with rolls.

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Source: adapted from a recipe posted by Rita M. DuCharme-Muskat, Saudi Aramco BBS