Minestrone is a really easy, healthy and low cost soup. It is basically a tomatoey broth filled with an assortment of vegetables, pasta and beans. Normally the tomato flavor comes from a can of crushed tomatoes but I have a secret trick- use marinara sauce instead for a more rich texture and depth of flavor. Minestrone is a really flexible soup, it hails from Italy and the ingredients are traditionally dictated by the season. Back in Roman times vegetable and bean soups like this were a staple because of an appreciation for simple food and the positive health effects that come out of it. We know today that soups are easy to digest and adding in a wide variety of vegetables brings us a wide range of vitamins and minerals. The ingredients here are all from plants but combining rice (or rice pasta) and beans makes the meal a source of “complete protein”. Protein is made of building blocks called amino acids and while animal products have all the amino acids we need, plants are missing a few and are thus called “incomplete proteins”. Lots of traditional vegetarian meals combine grains and legumes or grains and seeds, these pairings provide all the amino acids needed, for example rice provides the amino acids that beans are missing and vice versa. So even though soup like this falls into the “cucina povera”, Italian for “poor kitchen”, category, it is rich in nutrients and provides high quality sustenance.
This recipe makes a really thick soup but an extra cup or two of broth can be used to thin it out. For the pasta, shell shapes are a traditional option and gluten free versions made with brown rice are pretty widely available but any kind that you have lying around works (go for one made with whole grains for more nutrients). For the beans I used white kidney beans (a.k.a. cannellini beans in Italian markets) because they are really mild and have an especially soft texture that compliments the soup but borlotti or garbanzo (chickpea) beans are great alternatives. Make sure the vegetables are all cut pretty small and in approximately the same size so they cook quickly.
- 4 cups vegetable broth
- 2 cups marinara sauce
- ½ package of brown rice shell pasta (from a standard 454 g bag- around 1½ cups dry pasta)
- 1 can white kidney beans (540 ml/19 oz size can), rinsed thoroughly
- 2 medium yellow potatoes, diced
- 1 carrot, diced
- 1 celery stalk, diced
- 1 small zucchini, diced
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 tablespoon cold-pressed olive oil
- 1 small leek (or onion), diced
- 1 garlic clove, minced
- Place the oil in a large pot on the stove over medium high heat. Place another large pot on the stove around ⅔ full of water and bring to a boil over medium high heat (this is for the pasta). Once the oil warms up add in the leek and garlic and sautée for 3-4 minutes, until very fragrant and the leeks are softened. Add in the broth, marinara, beans, potatoes, carrot, celery, zucchini and bay leaf. Bring the heat to high until it comes to a boil then reduce it down to medium and leave to simmer for around 20 minutes. Check your pasta package for cooking directions, it will probably be somewhere between 10 and 15 minutes, once the timer for the soup gets to that time amount dump the pasta into the boiling water. When the timer goes drain the pasta and add it to the soup then remove from heat, take the bay leaf out and serve hot.