Oh my – this soup seriously gets better and better. In fact, next time I’m not going to even bother eating it until day 2 or 3. This is a 
veritable bounty of vegetables – hearty, satisfying and loaded with anti-oxidants and micro-nutrients… There’s a fair amount of chopping involved but otherwise it’s pretty simple. Sprinkle a bit of Romano to finish it off before serving!
- 1 onion
- 1 leek
- 1 bulb of fennel
- 1 large & 1 small can of diced tomatoes
- 1 small butternut squash
- 3 stalks of celery
- 1/4 head of cabbage
- 1 small bunch of kale
- 2 zucchini
- 8-10 cloves of garlic
- 1 cup dried cannelini beans
- 2-3 tbs fresh sage leaves
- 1 tbs dried oregano
- 1 tbs dried basil
- 1/2 cup fresh parsley
- olive oil
Add the beans to 5 cups of water with the fresh sage and 6 cloves of peeled garlic. Bring to a boil and let cook for 1 – 1 1/2 hours until the beans are tender.
In the meantime, chop the onions and white and light green portions of the leeks. Saute in olive oil for 10 mins until soft and translucent. Add the fennel and celery, remaining garlic, oregano and basil and cook an additional 10 minutes. add the remaining vegetables (all chopped into lovely soup sized peices – and make sure to remove the tough stems from the kale!). Pour in just enough water to cover the vegetables and let it cook for 20 minutes or so.
Once the beans are ready dump the whole pot in with the veggies. Give it a nice swirl of olive oil for good measure and simmer for 10 more minutes – and presto! Minestrone!!! Feel free to dig right in, but it’s going to be waayyyy better in a couple of days! You may also need to top it off with a little extra vegetable broth as the beans will soak up the liquid…
