Minestrone-esque Soup

Photo lost when the old site was hacked. (minestrone, pasta, e fagiole soup) Newer posts will have photos.

We love living in New York City.  This place has everything you could ever dream of and more — a thousand-million-billion restaurants (where else can you choose between 20 Indian/Thai/Italian/Burger restaurants all within walking distance?), museums galore (even if you can only afford them one Friday a month), Central Park (as long as you ignore the tourists), food trucks of every genre, bars that stay open all night (ok, so we are home and asleep by midnight even on the weekends, but we COULD stay out if we wanted), Broadway shows, indie bands, the fast-pace, book signings, farmers markets, the ability to jay-walk, the freedom to choose from 25 different nearby podiatrists (you walk everywhere) even if you have crappy insurance, the diversity, and speaking of people, the way everyone minds their own business.

The downsides: parking our three bikes in our sad-excuse-for-a-dining room and being unable to control the heat (or the electricity in our old building that blows when we run the microwave and the toaster oven, heaven forbid the vacuum and the speakers).

The solutions: don’t leave the city, but DO turn off the lights when using the microwave and toaster oven AND make hearty soups when cold.

The soup below is a blending of a more tradition minestrone with a pasta e fagioli recipe.  We would blame our cravings for the hybridity of its content, but we liked it and hope you will too.

 

Minestrone-esque Soup

(Serves 6)

8 cups veggie broth

4 tbsp olive oil (plus more when serving)

2 tsp freshly grated black pepper

1 tsp salt

1 28 oz. can of chopped tomatoes

1 potato cubed

1 large carrot

2 celery sticks

1 small onion

1 1/2 c chopped green beans

1 16 oz. can of kidney beans

1/2 lb medium shells

 

Chop the onion, carrot, celery, green beans, and potatoes.  Leave them in big-enough chunks so they have a nice shape and form still after cooking.

Photo lost when the old site was hacked. (this is the only prep required and two people make short work of this) Newer posts will have photos.

Heat 4 tbsp of olive oil in the bottom of a heavy bottomed pot.  Toss in the onions, carrots, celery and potatoes.  Coat with the oil, add the salt and pepper and cook over medium-low heat for about 3 minutes.

Photo lost when the old site was hacked. (seasoned veggies sauteeing in a dutch oven) Newer posts will have photos.

Next add the veggie broth of your choice.  (We used Better than Bouillon — 2 tbsp for 8 cups of water.)  Empty the entire can of chopped tomatoes into the soup pot.  Cover and cook for 35 minutes.

In the meantime, set a pot of well-salted water to boil.

After 35 minutes, remove the cover, toss in the green beans and the kidney beans and cook for another 10 minutes.  (This is around when you should be putting the pasta in the boiling water.)

Photo lost when the old site was hacked. (Minestrone soup simmering and steaming) Newer posts will have photos.

Spoon some of the drained pasta into a bowl, top with soup, drizzle your yummiest olive oil over the top and serve with our without some freshly grated parmesan.

If you live in a home that has a garage for your bikes and a stove that is larger than 19 inches then you probably won’t need this recipe for warmth, but we’d like to think it’s still worth making!

**P.s. this is the final camera-less-iPhone-photos post.  Who knew that we’d do so much cooking while our camera was away!