108. minestrone soup

wholesome meal

  There's nothing more comforting on a cold day like a bowl of some hearty wholesome soup. I love minestrone soup as it has everything in it, vegetables, pasta, beans, and cheese if you like. I usually use whatever vegetables are available in the market. Usually minestrone soup has celery, zucchini, carrot, beans, onion,tomato, basil, other herbs, pasta and some cheese. I like to use whatever is available in the market.Rainy season is a blessing as veggies are fresh and succulent. Add vegetables of your preference, this recipe is basically just a guideline. Wholesome soups make an excellent meal and I love to have it for dinner. Its a good way to get kids to have vegetables. Use fresh tomato puree and tomatoes. Tinned tomatoes tend to have citric acid which makes the soup too tangy. I prefer to chop the vegetables into slightly larger chunks, but you can dice them smaller if you prefer. Don't over cook the vegetables. Getting a bit of bite with every spoonful makes the soup more palatable.

updated : 15/01/2016

MINESTRONE SOUP
4 to 6 servings depending whether you have it as a meal or as a starter

1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp butter
½ cup chopped onion white or red
2-3 chopped garlic
1 cup diced zucchini
½ cup diced carrots
½ cup quartered mushrooms
½ cup cooked or tinned white or red beans
½ cup cauliflower florets
½ cup chopped celery stalk with a bit of leaves too
1 tbsp fresh chopped basil or 1 tsp dry basil
1 tsp dry oregano or 1 tbsp fresh oregano
4 tomatoes diced
1 cup tomato puree
4 cloves of garlic finely chopped
½ cup pasta
2 cups stock or water
1 to 1½ tsp salt
1 tsp coarse pepper powder
4 to 6 tbsps grated cheese of your choice ( I use either cheddar or parmesan)

1. Heat oil and butter together in a deep pan.
2. Saute onion and garlic for a minute or so.
3. Add zucchini, carrots, celery, basil and oregano.
4. Stir the vegetables. Cover the pan and let the vegetables sweat for 2 to 3 minutes over low heat.
5. Add the diced tomatoes, beans, cauliflower and mushrooms. Cook for 2 minutes or so.
6. Add tomato puree and stock or water. Add salt.
7. When the soup begins to simmer, add the pasta. Mix.
8. Let the soup simmer over low flame till the pasta gets done.
9. Garnish with grated cheese and pepper and serve.

Tips :

• Can cut the vegetables into chunks if you like.
• I added macaroni. Add any pasta of your choice. Try with bow pasta.
• Adjust the amount of salt required according to your taste. Be careful if you are using ready made stock. They can be salty sometimes.
• If you like add bell pepper.
• I love added fresh red beans which are readily available in Mombasa.
• You can omit cheese if you want.

You may want to check out the following :

mexican vegetable soup

tomato carrot soup

momo soup