My heart might be saying spring, but the weather is saying
winter. To remedy my husband’s cold and my yearning for sunshine, I came up
with this Winter Minestrone recipe. It takes the best of spring vegetables, but
brings them together in an easy slow cooker style meal that takes very little
effort. The perfect thing for a dreary Sunday when I’d rather be watching the
Oscar’s red carpet coverage than worrying about meals for this week. There will
be plenty of leftovers to serve us for the next several evenings.
Tonight, I’m serving up heaping bowls of soup with a gluten
free white bread from Flying Apron Bakery in Redmond. Later this week, I may do
an Italian salad or avocado toast on the side to stretch the servings out a
bit.
Here’s the recipe.
Winter Vegetable Minestrone
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
2 ribs celery, diced
2 large carrots, diced
5 cloves of garlic, minced
1 bag frozen green beans, broken into 1” pieces
1 bunch of fresh parsley, chopped
1 28-oz. can of crushed tomatoes
1 15-oz. can kidney beans, drained
1 15-oz. can great northern white beans, drained
2 teaspoons dried oregano
1 teaspoon dried thyme
Ground pepper, several turns
1 teaspoon sea salt
4-6 cups low sodium vegetable broth
1 cup elbow macaroni
4 cups chopped fresh spinach
In a large frying pan over medium-high heat, warm the olive
oil and then sauté the onion, celery, and onions (mirepoix) until slightly
soft. Then, add the garlic and sauté for another 2-3 minutes. Transfer this
mixture to the slow cooker.
With 4 cups of vegetable broth, toss in all the other ingredients, except the macaroni and
spinach. Stir to combine. Set the slow cooker on low for 6 hours, stirring
every couple of hours.
In the last half hour of cooking, chop the spinach and heat
a large pot of salted water for the pasta. Cook the pasta until al dente so it’s
still slightly firm to the bite (about 6 minutes). Drain the pasta. Stir the
spinach and macaroni into the minestrone. Change the setting to high and cook
for another 10-15 minutes. At the very end, I added about 2 more cups of vegetable broth as the pasta soaked some up. I like a thicker soup with less broth, so I only added 1 1/2 more cups of broth. You could add 2-3 more cups if you like it soupier.
Serve with crusty bread or an Italian salad on the side.
Serve with crusty bread or an Italian salad on the side.
