Minestrone Soup

I wish you could have smelled the kitchen yesterday while this pot of gold was simmering away on the stove. My mom has been feeling a little under the weather, so I made some comforting and delicious, albeit nontraditional, minestrone soup. I substituted some traditional vegetables for ones I had in the fridge I wanted to use up (like savoy cabbage for zucchini). Even though it's Florida in July, this soup was too good to pass up. I based this recipe off of the one from the original The Best Recipe.


Minestrone Soup


- 1 28 oz can of whole peeled tomatoes, chopped
- 1 15 oz can of cannelini beans (also called Great Northern Beans)
- 3 cups shredded savoy cabbage
- 2-3 medium carrots, chopped
- 2 medium celery stalks
- 1 freezer bag of green peas
- 2 small white onions
- 2 small white potatoes (or whatever potato you want)
- 2 pieces of Parmesano Reggiano cheese rinds
- 9 cups of water 
- 2 sprigs of tarragon
- 2 sprigs of rosemary
- 1 clove of garlic
- sea salt
- black pepper
- 1 tablespoon of olive oil


The key to a successful minestrone is that you chop everything to roughly the same size so everything cooks uniformly. Otherwise you will end up with mushy onions and undercooked potatoes. Chop your vegetables into cute little cubes and the broth will make love to them and infuse itself into their cells. In short you'll end up with an amazing soup you'll want to make love to. The second crucial aspect of minestrone is the parmesan reggiano cheese rinds. They add a certain sweetness and je ne sais quoi that absolutely is essential to the depth of flavor that makes this soup as good as I am telling you it is.


Directions


1. Chop all of your vegetables uniformly) and shred the cabbage.

2. Mince the tarragon, rosemary, and garlic. Mix with a little bit of sea salt and the olive oil to make a rough pesto.

3. Open the can of tomatoes, roughly chop. 


4. Open the can of cannelini beans and rinse (to make sure you're in control of the salt level).


5. Place vegetables, tomatoes, beans, and parmesan rinds in large soup pot. Cover the vegetables with about 2 inches of water.


6. Add pesto. Simmer away for about an hour. Add salt and pepper to taste.