Minestrone Soup is a classic Italian recipe that will hit the spot on a cold Fall or Winter night! Join Eric from Simply Elegant Home Cooking as he demonstrates his version of this highly versatile dish. The beauty of Minestrone Soup is that you can customize the dish to suit your own tastes, using a variety of different vegetables, beans, pasta shapes, and herbs.
The key to this dish is to use a very high quality homemade stock! Today Eric uses homemade roasted vegetable stock, for which you can find his recipe here:
Ingredients:
-8 cups homemade stock (chicken or vegetable)
-3 slices pancetta (optional)
-1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil (plus more for serving)
-1 onion
-2 ribs celery
-2 carrots
-3 tablespoons tomato paste
-2 tablespoons fresh thyme
-1 cup Italian dry white wine
-1 can (28 oz.) San Marzano Tomatoes
-3 cloves garlic
-1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
-1 can (14-15 oz.)cannellini beans
-1 large bunch red chard
-1 cup Ditalini pasta (or other small cut pasta)
-1 Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese rind
-2 sprigs fresh rosemary
-salt and pepper to taste
Directions:
-Preheat a large cast iron Dutch oven on medium low heat. Once the pot is fully preheated, add in the diced pancetta and a tablespoon of olive oil and cook for a few minutes until fat is rendered and bacon is slightly crispy but not fully cooked.
-Add the onion, celery, and carrots. Season to taste with salt and pepper and stir to evenly incorporate. Turn the heat up to medium and cook for about 5 minutes, stirring every minute.
-Add the tomato paste and stir until evenly incorporated.
-Add the fresh thyme and stir. At this point be sure to keep everything moving in the pot to prevent burning.
-Add in the minced garlic and continue to stir. Be sure to only cook the garlic for about 30-45 seconds, until fragrant.
-Deglaze by adding the Italian white wine. Use a spatula to scrape up any bits from the bottom of the pan.
-After about a minute, add in the tomatoes, crushed red pepper flakes, and the stock. Give the Minestrone soup a big stir to evenly mix the ingredients.
-Turn the heat up to medium high until a simmer is achieved. Add in the fresh rosemary and the Parmigiano-Reggiano rind. The soup will simmer for a total of 40 minutes from this point.
-20 minutes into the simmer, add in a can of rinsed and drained cannellini beans. At this point preheat a small pot of water for pasta.
-30 minutes into the simmer, add in the Ditalini pasta into the salted pasta water and stir. Cook the pasta for 10 minutes, or until al dente.
-In the final 10 minutes while the pasta cooks, add the chard to the Minestrone soup. Chard can be substituted for other greens such as kale or spinach if you prefer.
-Once pasta is cooked, drain and add it to the soup pot.
-Serve the Minestrone Soup and enjoy! If desired, garnish with freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano and a drizzle of your best extra virgin olive oil!