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Wednesday, November 9, 2011

Minestrone Soup | Soup Recipes

Minestrone (pronounced min-NESS-throw-nay) is a hearty Italian Soup made with vegetables, beans and pasta (or rice). There is no set recipe for this soup but the basic recipe has vegetables (and/or meat), vegetables in season and different types of beans. I have used the vegetables I had at hand with a combination of black-eyed beans and garbanzo beans. It calls for a very simple preparation with a variety of flavoring. This makes a whole meal in itself and we enjoyed it for Saturday night dinner to keep ourselves warm when it was snowing outside. Yes it was snowing in October here!!
Ingredients:
Serves - 4-5
Vegetables:
Onion - Chopped fine - 1/2 cup
Garlic - 2 cloves - chopped fine
Carrots - 2 - cubed - 1/2 cup
Cauliflower florets - 1 cup
Potato - 1 small - cubed - 1/2 cup
Baby Spinach - 1/2 cup - packed tightly
Tomato - 1 - cubed
For flavoring:
Vegetable Stock - 4 cups (I used 2 Knorr Bouillon cubes with 4 cups of water) 
Red pepper flakes - 1/2 tsp
Salt and Pepper - to taste
Butter - 1 tbsp
Olive oil - 1 tbsp
For the texture:
Pasta - any short cut variety - 1/2 cup (I used Mini Penne)
Blackeye peas / Cowpeas - cooked - 1 cup 
Garbanzo beans / White Sundal - cooked - 1 cup
Method:
Heat butter and olive oil in a wide saucepan and saute the onion and garlic until it is transparent. Add cauliflower, carrot and potatoes in the said order frying for 2 mins after each addition. Add baby spinach and stir until it wilts. Add the red pepper flakes, pepper, beans and the vegetable stock. Check for salt and add if needed, note that the stock would already contain salt. Add the tomatoes and cook covered until it boils. Add the pasta and cook in medium heat until the pasta is cooked and soft. Simmer for about 5 minutes and serve hot with your favorite bread. 
Note: You can add any vegetables of your choice. Feel free to add seasonal vegetables. Red kidney beans is also an excellent addition. I mashed about a tablespoon of cooked garbanzo beans and cowpeas and added it to the soup for thickness. I used canned beans.
Sending this to Srivalli's Soups and Salads Mela and to Radhika's Winter Carnival.
Winter Carnival

47 comments:

  1. My favorite soup Krithi .. filling and tasty.

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  2. wow...the soup looks so yummy..really a hearty n filling soup.

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  3. Nice....tempting........colourful soup......

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  4. Real yummy n delicious soup!!!

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  5. Luv this soup so much...Suits the weather.

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  6. Very nice recipe.. thanks for sharing dear.. beautiful clicks too !!
    Indian Cuisine

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  7. Healthy and yummy soup...I love it
    Shema George www.lifescoops.blogspot.com

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  8. Vowww!!soup looks grt...healthy n real yumm!!!!

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  9. My mouth is just watering looking at this soup.

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  10. ohhh.love this. Am bookmarking this one krithi. Till now I haven't tried many soup recipes.

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  11. My fav soup.. esp the one from olive garden. ;o)

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  12. I love minestrones and it is sure a winter warmer. looks fabulous

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  13. Luk fabulously delicious Dear.Very inviting clicks.Luv it

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  14. Heart and comforting soup, perfect for the fall!

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  15. What a Warm Welcome for this Winter... I love Minestrone, I am loving it more, as it is Homemade..


    -Mythreyi
    Yum! Yum! Yum!

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  16. Super filling and comforting satisfying soup,lovely bowl.

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  17. heart, filling soup..And thx fot the tip on pronouncing it too..Always wondered how to say it out!!
    Prathima Rao
    Prats Corner

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  18. Hearty and filling soup. Thanks for linking it to the event Krithi.

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  19. my fav soup, i always order when i go to pizza hut.never tried at home though. nicely done

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  20. warm and cosy soup..weather here is getting cold this is just what i need..

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  21. I'm a die hard fan of this soup and U made it perfect to the core

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  22. Such a filling and comforting soup by itself makes a complete meal!

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  23. Soups yup!, perfect recipe for this time of the year!, such a comforting one.. with a bread to accompany its a one pot meal

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  24. That looks like one hearty bowl of soup.. right in time for this dreary cold weather!
    Richa @ Hobby And More Food Blog

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  25. Love this soup! It's a meal by itself.

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  26. A soup is a perfect meal during winter season. With so many different variety of vegetables and pasta .. it would surely taste delicious.

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  27. a perfect bowl of soup to make me feel warm tru cozy nights:)

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  28. Beautiful!!! Whatta recipe. So healthy and grand

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  29. I want soup everyday eversince the winter has started. This one looks so fresh and comforting :)
    Tes
    http://tesathome.com

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  30. Hearty soup at its best. Perfect for this season.

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  31. Minestrone, always enjoy ordering it. Definitely great for Fall.

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  32. Very yummy,colourful and healthy soup.

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  33. Healthy and delicious soup for this cold weather.A wonderful award is waiting for you,check out my space.

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  34. This is one of my fav soup:-) Loved the combo of veggies u chose:-)

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  35. Can have soup any time, any day. Nice colors going on there.

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  36. Very nice blog! I am sending you an award which on my blog! Pls collect it form the blog @ http://sweetkaramkapi.blogspot.com/2011/11/badhusha.html

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  37. Thanks for all the lovely entries Krithi..

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