Marvelous Minestrone Soup
"Quick Italian vegetable soup with orzo pasta and plenty of vegetables, it's a whole meal in a bowl that's fancy enough for company! All you need are crusty rolls and Italian gelato for dessert. Cool days, changing leaves, satisfying soup...mmmm, I love fall. From the newspaper."
photo by carolinajewel
- Ready In:
- 30mins
- Ingredients:
- 15
- Serves:
-
6
ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 large onion (for about 1 cup chopped)
- 2 celery ribs (for about 1/2 cup chopped)
- 10 peeled baby carrots (for about 1/2 cup thinly sliced)
- 1⁄2 lb fresh green beans (for about 1 cup cut)
- 2 (14 ounce) cans fat-free chicken broth
- 1 (14 ounce) can nonfat beef broth
- 1 (14 1/2 ounce) can stewed tomatoes
- 1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce
- 1 (15 -19 ounce) can cannellini beans
- 1⁄2 cup uncooked orzo pasta
- 1 1⁄2 teaspoons dried Italian seasoning
- 1 teaspoon bottled minced garlic
- salt and pepper, to taste
- 6 tablespoons grated parmesan cheese
directions
- Heat the oil on medium-high in a 4 1/2-quart Dutch oven or soup pot. Peel and coarsely chop the onion, adding it to the pot as you chop. Stir. Coarsely chop the celery and add it to the pot. Stir. Thinly slice the carrots and add them to the pot. Stir. Remove the tough ends of the green beans and cut them in 1/2-inch pieces, adding them to the pot as you cut. Stir.
- Pour the chicken and beef broth into the pot. Add the tomatoes with their juice, tomato sauce, cannellini beans with their juice and the orzo. Cover the pot, raise the heat to high and bring the soup to a boil. This will take about 5 to 6 minutes.
- When soup comes to a boil, uncover and stir well. (The orzo sinks to the bottom.) Add the Italian seasoning and garlic. Boil until green beans and pasta are tender, about 9 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Remove soup from heat and ladle into bowls. Serve at once, garnishing each bowl with 1 tablespoon grated parmesan.
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Reviews
-
This is so good and super easy. I only had one can of chicken stock on hand so I added one cup of red wine and about 2/3 a cup of water as a substitution. It was delicious for last night with really good bread and even better with a grilled cheese sandwich for lunch today. -
I made it exactly as directed and it was awesome!!!! So easy and quick and SO delicious!!!! Minimum effort for maximum flavor!!!! Thanks for posting! -
Oh my gosh, I can't believe no one has tried this yet. This is the BEST Minestrone I have ever had! It has so much flavor. I added some turkey smoked sausage that I chopped in tiny pieces, and cook a little longer than suggested. Thanks so much for sharing!!!!
RECIPE SUBMITTED BY
<p>Married to my sweetheart for almost forty years and we have two wonderful children who are grown and have flown the coop. Also, we have been blessed with a wonderful son-in-law and beautiful daughter-in-law, plus FIVE grandchildren: two beautiful granddaughters ages five and eight, and three sweet adorable little grandsons ages 2 months, 2 years and 3 years. My husband and I share a combination of English, Irish, Scottish, Welsh, Dutch, Swiss, Polish, Austrian, German and French heritage, and our son-in-law and daughter-in-law are both Hispanic. We've traveled extensively to many countries abroad (we lived in Germany), and have traveled and lived in several states here in the U.S.A. Many of the recipes I post here are influenced by our combined heritage or from our travels, or they are old family favorites that I want to share with you. I hope you enjoy! Have been to culinary school with many years of cooking (mostly for my family) under my belt, so know my way around a kitchen. And I'm very lucky to have the best sous chef in the world, dddddh! One of my favorite chefs of all time is Jacques Pepin! I have several of his cookbooks, and enjoy watching his television cooking show Fast Food My Way. Another top favorite is Julia Child (of course!). A few other chefs I read/enjoy watching on t.v. are: Giada At Home, Ina Garten's The Barefoot Contessa, Nigella Lawson's Nigella Bites, and Patti's Mexican Kitchen, and many more. On my bucket list is dining at Thomas Keller's establishment The French Laundry in Napa Valley, California... as well as Alice Waters' Chez Panisse in Berkeley, and the James Beard award winning Tartine Bakery and Cafe in San Francisco. One day!! Hobbies/Interests: Decorating with fresh flowers and herbs from the garden is my passion, and brings me deep joy! It's really hard to beat!! I love connecting with others who enjoy the same. Gardening, decorating, sewing, music, dancing, film, and reading are also up there. Spending quality time with my grandchildren, family, and friends (and cooking holiday meals!). Currently, a newfound passion has been so richly rewarding for me: genealogical research. I heart ancestry dot com. And last but certainly not least, I absolutely LOVE cats--we have two half-Siamese fur babies (cats) that allow us to live here!! A Note of Thanks~ I try to personally thank everyone who kindly makes and reviews my recipes, but sometimes I am busy, late, or may forget. Please know that I am always humbled that you would try one of my recipes, and I enjoy reading the reviews and seeing all the pretty photographs. Thanks so much! </p>
