The Perfect Minestrone Soup

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• Step 1

  Ingredients you'll need:

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  Note: Unlike baking, cooking doesn't have to be exact... season to taste and portion as you see fit and use whatever you have on hand. Also, the best soups are the kind that have been cooking all day. For best results do this during a comfy day in.

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  Liquids:
  - EVOO
  - 2 large boxes of chicken or beef stock (veggie if you must), I use Swanson

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  Spices, seasoning and herbs:
  - Italian Spices
  - 2 large bay leaves
  - Dried oregano (not fresh, fresh is VERY strong)
  - Garlic powder
  - Sea Salt
  - Cracked black pepper
  - Any other flavor you enjoy and want to add

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  Veggies:
  - White onion
  - Garlic
  - Carrots
  - Celery
  - Can of crushed tomatoes

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  Starches:
  - Can of white kidney beans
  - Can of red kidney beans
  - Small bag/ box of mini noodles (whatever kind you prefer, I recommend shells)

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  Garnishes:
  - Grated parmesan
  - fresh loaf of bread, I love pulgiese

• Step 2

  Cooking and Chopping Veggies:

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  - Chop 2-3 stalks of celery, 1/2 a white onion and 2 large carrots, and 2 cloves of garlic. Small chop is good, we want all these flavors to meld together
  - Get a large, deep soup pot (bigger then you think you'll need) and put it on the stove on medium - high heat
  - Coat the bottom of the pot with a few table spoons of EVOO and let heat
  - When the oil is hot poor chopped veggies inside and let saute for a few minutes, stirring occasionally until veggies start to get a little color

• Step 3

  Adding stuff:

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  - Now that your veggies have sweated a bit add the cans of crushed tomatoes, white and red kidney beans. You should have a big o' pot of veggies, stir and let cook for a few minutes. Take this time to add a half palm full of salt and pepper to the veggies.

  - Next you'll need to add the stock. I've only tried chicken but I have a sneaking suspicion the soup I love at Caesar's uses beef so feel free to try it. Use only one box, keep the other one on reserve for later.

  - The last step before walking away is seasoning. Add an additional half a palm full of salt and pepper as well as large pinches of listed ingredients as well as the two bay leaves

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  Note: I could be more exact but it seems to change every time I make it, so use more of what you like and less of what you don't... but don't be afraid of over seasoning it. There are a lot of veggies in the pot that need a little flavor

• Step 4

  Cooking the soup:

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  - Stir and let simmer on medium-low heat for at least an hour. The longer you let it cook the more the flavors will meld together so if you can hold off for 3, yes 3, hours the better it will taste :D

  - Check on the soup every 20 min or so, stir, taste, season as you like. If the broth level starts getting low turn down the heat and you can either add a few cups of water if the flavors are strong enough to be diluted or use some of the extra stock put on reserve

• Step 5

  Blending the soup:

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  - Once the soup has been simmering long enough it's time to blend it. I've seen all types of minestrone from the extremely chunky to the entirely smooth and I personally love the kind that are in between.

  - Carefully fish out the bay leaves and set aside

  - get a large bowl and carefully ladle out half the contents of the soup into the bowl

  - Pour the contents of the bowl into a blender and blend until only slightly chunky (just not entirely smooth)

  - Carefully pour contents back into pot of soup (this might have to be done in batches depending on how big your blender is)

  - The soup should be now be nice and thick with slight chunks of veggies and beans. Return the bay leaves back into soup, taste and season if necessary.

• Step 6

  Noodles:

  - Depending on how much starch you like in your soup add 1/2 a box of mini (and I mean mini, the smaller the better) noodles into the soup

  - The noodles will take around 10-15 min to cook thoroughly to a super soft state

  - Also, the noodles will absorb a lot of the broth. This is good because they'll really take on the soup flavor but bad because you wont have much broth. Add either a few cups of water if the flavor is strong enough or a few cups of reserved chicken stock to keep the broth at a decent level

• Step 7

  Final step - Serve:

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  - Pour large ladle fulls of soup into a big bowl

  - Top soup with grated parmesan cheese

  - Serve with a few slices of fresh pugliese bread

  - Enjoy :)

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  PS. Whoever gets one of the bay leaves gets a prize! What is it? A bay leaf :D

Comments

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Emmyann07 · Sacramento, California, US · 49 projects 3rd July 2012

Extra virgin olive oil sorry

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Libby W. · Whitehaven, England, GB · 86 projects 3rd July 2012

I was wondering what EVOO was?

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