Nouranyeh's Recipe

Italian Grandma Makes Minestrone Soup

Category: Italian Grandma Recipes

Ingredients are listed in the above Photo.

Directions: You need a very large pot to cook the potatoes & vegetables, and two medium sized pots to cook the 8 oz Dry Cannellini Beans and the 1 cup Ditalini Pasta (a very short macaroni size straight tube pasta), which you add both eventually to the big pot. (Frankly, you can just substitute 1 cup macaroni pasta in this dish.) You drain the pasta before you add it to the soup.

You start by frying the onions and garlic in the Olive Oil on a medium-high heat. You then add the 2 cups celery. Then you add the 2 cups Carrots, chopped. Then you add the other ingredients one by one, leaving the potatoes and tomatoes as the last vegetables to add to the pot. Continue stirring until the tomatoes burst and give up their water.

You then add 1 to 2 quarts of water & the 2 large heads Escarole, rough chopped, and bring the entire thing to a boil. You need to stir and push the Escarole down into the broth.

You then add the cooked soften Cannellini Beans and the half-cooked Ditalini Pasta. The Ditalini Pasta finishes its cooking in the soup. You add salt and pepper, and adjust to your taste. You also add more water if needed. This is a soup, not a stew. Remember, the soup is done when the potatoes are easily pierced with a knife or fork and the pasta is cooked al dente. Don't overcook the soup and make everything mushy.

Serve hot in bowls with a crusty bread.

It is truly a meal in itself.