Minestrone Soup

This is MY version of the Minestrone Soup. I love the way it turns out, and its my favorite Sunday night wintry comfort food with a tomato, basil pesto, mozarella cheese panini! DELLLISH!! :) I have adapted my aunt's recipe, and I dont know anyone who does not like this soup!

Minestrone soup consists of some sorta pasta, like rigatoni or elbow pasta, but I dont put any. Also, it consists of cannellini beans, but I use black beans instead coz of preference.

Here is the recipe!

Ingredients:

1 carrot, peeled and cut into bite size pieces
1 zucchini cut into bite size pieces
2 small potatoes cut into bite size pieces
2-3 celery stalks, cut into bite size pieces
3 cups spinach leaves
1 medium sized onion finely chopped
3 garlic cloves finely chopped
1/2 can of black beans
1/2 can of crushed tomatoes
1 teaspoon of herb du provence
salt and pepper to taste
1/8 cup good olive oil
2 tablespoons butter

Garnish:
Parmesan cheese for garnish


Method:

In a medium pot, at medium heat, add the oil and butter, and let the butter melt. Add the onions and garlic and saute until golden brown. Add in the carrots, zucchini, potato, celery and saute for a couple minutes. Add the salt, pepper and herb du provence and saute it for another couple minutes. I add a lot of pepper coz I love the peppery taste in the soup.

Add about 3 cups of water, and add in the spinach at this point, since spinach wilts very quickly. Add in the black beans as well. Let the soup come to a boil. Let it boil for about 5 minutes and then turn the heat to low.

The soup is ready to comfort you ! :) Garnish with the parmesan cheese before serving.
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