Minestrone Soup & Cheese Bruschetta

Minestrone soup is a wholesome, hearty soup with lots of vegetables and pasta! A filling soup for a cold, rainy day!

Today we are traveling to Italy for a classic Italian soup, minestrone. I served minestrone soup with cheese bruschetta as my Italian combo food. Serve minestrone soup with or without bread since it is wholesome soup by itself.

What is Minestrone?

Minestrone soup is a thick soup made with vegetables, beans, pasta or rice. Onion, celery and carrots are common vegetables in the soup. Apart from these vegetables, use any vegetable that are available in the fridge. I used cannellini beans but navy, kidney or chickpeas can also be used. Since the soup is so versatile, add some meats to please the meat lovers.

I had a very hard time picking the last combo for this theme. I tried fish & chips which was not good enough to make its to the blog and I also tried noodles with a Chinese side dish. The side dish was a flop and I was all set to make fish & chips again. In the last minute I backed out and finally made minestrone soup with bruschetta.

I am not a big fan of minestrone soup, at least the soups that I tasted at few restaurants were not to my liking. Yesterday when looking for minestrone recipes, I was surprised at how easy this soup preparation is and also how similar it is to the vegetable soup I often make. The only difference is, I do not add tomato and even if I do, not as much as most of the recipes called for. I also do not add pasta.

After reading some minestrone recipes, I knew I would like the soup. I made the soup for yesterday’s lunch & totally loved it. Wish I used less pasta as I had bruschetta to go with it. Also, after adding the pasta, the soup thickens and I prefer thin soups to thick soups.

Easy Minestrone Soup Recipe

Cheese & Garlic Bruschetta recipe here

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Minestrone Soup

Prep Time

10 mins

Cook Time

20 mins

Total Time

30 mins

 

Minestrone soup is a versatile, hearty, wholesome soup for weekday meals. Use vegetables, beans and pasta or rice you have on hand to prepare this delicious soup! 

Course: Main Course, Starter

Cuisine: Italian

Keyword: Comfort Food, Filling Soup, Wholesome Soup

Servings: 2

Ingredients

• ¼ cup Pasta (I used anellini gluten free pasta)
• 2 tsp Oil
• ¼ small Onion chopped
• 1 small Carrot cut into thick slices, about ⅛ cup
• ⅛ cup tender Celery slices
• 1 small Red Radish sliced
• 1 tsp Garlic chopped or crushed
• 1 small to medium Tomato diced or ½ cup diced Tomato (I used vine tomato)
• ⅛ tsp Dry Thyme or ½ – 1 tsp fresh Thyme (I used dry thyme)
• ⅛ tsp Black Pepper Powder
• ¼ tsp Salt adjust to taste
• ¼ Tomato Puree (I used Pomi strained tomatoes)
• ½ cup Cannellini Beans (I used canned beans)
• 2 cups Stock (use 2 cups water + 2 cubes bouillon)
• 1 cup Spinach chopped & loosely packed

Instructions

1. Cook pasta following the instructions on the package. I used …. pasta and cooked it for 3 minutes though the instructions called for 4 minutes. Pasta is going to cook when simmering in soup.
2. Cut all the veggies and keep aside.
3. Heat oil in a pan. When hot add onion, celery, carrots, radish and garlic. Cook for a minute or two minutes.
4. Add tomato and cook until soft.
5. Add tomato puree, cannellini beans, thyme, pepper and salt. Mix and saute for few minutes.
6. Add stock or water and bring to boil. If using water, when it comes to boil add bouillon.
7. Boil until vegetables are almost cooked.
8. Add pasta, spinach and cook for 2-4 or until all the veggies and pasta is cooked. If the soup is very thick, add some stock and simmer for few minutes.
9. Serve hot with some toasted bread or as it is. I served with garlic cheese bruschetta. Soup can be garnish with some cheese.

Recipe Notes

• Pasta – I used ¼ cup dry pasta and felt I could have used less pasta and added few more vegetables. Second, since I was serving soup with bruschetta, I felt less pasta in the soup would have been better.
• Stock – I do not like canned or packaged stock. I either use homemade stock or water. Lately I am using Maggi Bouillon. I used two cubes.
• Soup is on the milder sider and one can adjust spice level to taste.

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