We had a wonderful meal at a local Italian restaurant earlier this week. Bruce liked their Minestrone soup so much that he asked me to try to re-create the dish. We spent most of Saturday testing out my interpretation. I can honestly say, I think that my version came out better than the original. So here's the recipe for Jacobs' Minestrone:
Jacobs Lentil Minestrone Soup
Ingredients:
· (3) tbsp olive oil
· (1) cup minced white or red onion ( about 1 small onion)
· (1/2) cup chopped summer squash ( zucchini and/ or yellow crookneck squash)
· (1/2) cup Italian cut fresh or frozen beans (we couldn’t find the flat beans so we used fresh green beans cut to ½ inch
· (1/4) cup minced celery
· (4) tsp minced garlic ( about 4 cloves)
· (4 )cups vegetable broth ( we used Swanson's)
· (1) 15 oz can Great Northern white beans
· (1) 15 oz can white navy beans
· (1/2) cup dry lentils
· (1) 14 oz can diced tomatoes ( we used 3 large fresh Roma tomatoes diced)
· (1/2) Cup diced or shredded carrots ( we used shredded)
· (2) tbsp minced parsley
· ( 1 ½) tsp fresh or dried oregano
· ( 1 ½) tsp salt
· (1/2) tsp ground black pepper
· (1/2 ) tsp basil ( we used about 8 tsp fresh half in cooking half just before serving)
· (1/2 ) tsp fresh or dried thyme (we used about ¼ tsp dry in cooking and ¼ tsp fresh f just before serving
· (3 ) cups hot water
· (4) cups fresh baby spinach
· (1/2) cup shell or small tube pasta
Directions
· Heat three tablespoons oil in large soup pot
· Saute onions garlic celery zucchini in oil until onions begin to turn translucent
· Add vegetable broth to pot plus tomatoes, drained beans, lentils, carrots hot water and herbs
· Bring soup to a boil then reduce heat and let simmer until lentils are a-dente (approximately. 20 to 30 minutes
· Add spinach leaves and pasta and cook and additional twenty minutes, or until pasta shells are cooked to taste.)
· Add remaining herbs just before serving
· Makes about (8) 1 ½ cup servings
