What I Made for Dinner :: Minestrone

 

There's really no set recipe for Minestrone -- make it with whatever vegetables are left over in your fridge, or go out and find the tastiest looking fresh vegetables at the farmers market. And it's a pretty versatile soup because you can make it in the summer with summer vegetables or you can make it in the winter with mostly root vegetables. 

This time around I used the following ingredients: 

• chicken broth
• carrot
• celery
• Russet potato
• onion
• garlic
• cabbage
• corn (frozen)
• kale (frozen)
• tomato
• small white beans (canned)
• thyme
• bacon
• pork bone
• Ditalini pasta
• salt & pepper

How I cooked the soup:

1. Saute the chopped bacon in a large soup pot until it's rendered out some fat and is almost crisp. Saute the rest of the vegetables in the bacon grease until soft. Season with pepper and just a little bit of salt.
2. Throw in the roast pork bone (or smoked pork/turkey product).
3. Add chicken broth (or vegetable broth or even some water), enough to cover the veggies and then some.
4. Let it simmer for awhile (at least an hour).
5. Cook the Ditalini pasta separately and add it to the soup just before serving.
6. You can garnish with grated cheese and serve with a rustic bread, or just wolf it down as-is.

[fishing out the pork bone before serving the soup]

I used the bone from the roast pork I made the other day, in the hopes of deepening the flavor. I have no idea if the bone made any difference, but the soup was damn tasty. I must admit, I had multiple servings and I had to stop myself from dishing out one more bowlful. 

I'll definitely make this again, but instead of a roast pork bone I'll probably use some kind of smoked pork or turkey product. And I'll probably use more broth since the Ditalini pasta soaks up the soup and makes it more like a stew than a soup. 

[edited November 18, 2013: I made the soup again, and I used a few smoked turkey wings and legs. Right before serving, I shredded the meat and added it back to the soup. The kids thought it was delicious and they were surprised (in a good way) that it was turkey.]