Minestrone Soup

The best thing about a rainy forecast all week- soup weather! 

 Here is one of my favorite recipes from Giada deLaurentiis.

Ingredients:

1 onion

2 carrots

2 celery

2 cloves of garlic

3 ounces pancetta

1 pound swiss chard

1 potato cubed

1 can diced tomatoes

1 fresh spring rosemary

1 15 ounces can of cannellini beans

2 14 ounce cans of beef broth

Preparation:

Sauté chopped onions, carrots, celery, and garlic in olive oil for about 10 minutes.
Add pancetta and cook another 10 minutes.
Add cubed potatoes and salt. Cook another 10 minutes.
Add swiss chard. Cook for 2 minutes.
Add rosemary and can of diced tomatoes.  Cover and cook for 10 minutes.
Puree cannellini beans with beef broth.
Add puree and cook 20 minutes (or til potatoes are soft).
Remove rosemary.

Use salt and pepper as needed.

My Modifications:

• For the onions, carrots and celery, I cheat and buy the pre-cut mireproix mix from Trader Joe’s.  I cook them in bacon fat to give the soup even more flavor.
• If you can’t find swiss chard, try using kale.
• I’ve used dried rosemary rather than fresh and didn’t notice a huge difference.
• This recipe also freezes well, so I usually make two batches at a time. 

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/giada-de-laurentiis/winter-minestrone-recipe/index.html