I made this a week ago for dinner, and it was a BIG hit! I love a really good soup, a couple times a year I make soup all day and freeze them. This would be a good one to make.
(my notes here)
Tomato Minestrone Soup
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons EVOO – Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- 1 large onion, finely chopped
- 3 to 4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
- 1/4 pound green beans, trimmed and cut into thirds (I bought the frozen bag of green beans that were already cut, super easy!)
- 2 carrots, peeled and diced
- 3 to 4 small ribs celery with leafy tops, chopped
- 1 fresh bay leaf
- 1 15-ounce can garbanzo beans, drained
- Salt and pepper
- 1 quart chicken stock
- 2 cups water
- 1 28-ounce can tomato purée (Crushed works great too)
- 1 cup mini penne rigate or mini rigatoni, such as Barilla brand
- 1/2 basil leaves, torn
- 4 tablespoons butter
- 1/2 loaf crusty or stale bread
- 1 3-ounce jar pine nuts or 1/3 cup
- 1/4 grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, plus more to pass at table
- Preparation
- Preheat oven to 325˚F.
- Heat a soup pot over medium to medium-high heat with EVOO, 2 turns of the pan. Add onions, garlic, green beans, carrots, celery, bay leaf, garbanzo beans and season liberally with salt and pepper. Cook vegetables 7-8 minutes to soften then add in stock and tomato purée. Bring soup to a boil, add penne and cook 5 minutes. Stir in basil and turn off heat.
- Meanwhile, melt butter in a small pot over low. Pulse bread and pine nuts together in a food processor. Turn breadcrumbs out onto a cookie sheet and toss with butter and cheese. Toast in oven 12-15 minutes, until light golden in color.
- Top soup with breadcrumbs and serve.
I'm not a big fan of bread crumbs, so I bought a garlic loaf, in the specialty bread isle at the store and cut it into slices and topped it with EVOO and Parmesan Cheese and put it in the oven till it was golden brown and the cheese was melted a little.
Served it with a salad and bread!
