Minestrone Soup

I’m excited to share this recipe with you guys. I’ll admit that I wasn’t a fan of minestrone soup…I think because I didn’t know exactly what was in the Campbells or Progressos of my past. But I tweaked this one to just the way I liked it and when I tried it I fell in love. I thought it was the most delicious soup I’ve ever had. I’m not even exaggerating. Now as I sit here and write about my new favorite soup I’m craving a steaming hot bowl and an enormous piece of bread!

Minestrone soup is such a great soup. For one…it’s Italian. But on top of that, it’s hearty and satisfying on cold winter nights and it allows you the freedom to throw just about anything in it: veggies nearing their expiration, veggies that are leftover from previous meals. Anything!

Cliff chose this particular recipe, by famed mobster Henry Hill, which Goodfellas is based on. Nothing but the best for us! We added cannellini beans because we like them and we omitted the cabbage–yuck!. Other than that, we followed Henry Hill’s recipe pretty closely. You could totally mix up the ingredients to suit your tastes. Henry (first name basis) says not to bother cutting up all the veggies ahead of time. I see his point since you’ll add them gradually and will have time to chop in between cooking. However, it seemed like a lot of peeling, chopping, dicing and slicing so we prepped everything before we started the soup.

I think everyone needs to try this Minestrone Soup. If you haven’t tried any recipes from our blog yet, let this be the first one. If you’ve tried lots of our recipes, let this be the next one. It’s that good.

Here’s what you’ll need.

In a large pot heat olive oil then start cooking the pancetta

Next add the onions cook for 5 minutes then add the celery, carrots and leeks

Add the tomatoes. Squeeze the juice out of them with your hand them break them up with a wooden spoon

In goes the beef broth

Dump in the potatoes, zucchini, green beans, cannellini beans, parsley and dried herbs

Now let it simmer…for a long time!

I’m posting the same pic twice…because that’s how long this stuff simmers for.

Cook the pasta separate, according to box directions, add before serving. Not to brag…but isn’t this the best looking soup EVER?

BLOGROLL