Minestrone Soup

By pfwombat

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup dried/canned cannellini beans or any white beans
• 2-3 oz pancetta
• 10-12 cups chicken stock
• 1 onion chopped
• 1 celery stock chopped
• 1 cup loosely packed parsley
• 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 1/2 head cabbage sliced
• 1 potato diced (optional)
• 2 zucchini diced
• 2 carrots diced
• 2 cups peeled tomato chopped (may use canned tomato)
• salt/pepper

Details

Servings 10
Preparation time 30mins
Cooking time 90mins

Preparation

Step 1

1) Soak dried beans overnight. Drain and place in sauce pan. Add pancetta and 6 cups of broth. Cover and boil, reduce heat and cook gently for 1 hour.
2) Add water if too dry as the beans can absorb a lot of the water
3) Heat oil in a separate pot and add the chopped vegetables (onion, celery, 1 carrot) and gently saute 5 - 8 min or until vegetables are lightly brown
4) Add remaining vegetables and add 5 cups of broth. Simmer for 40 - 50 min till vegetables are tender.
5) Remove pancetta and half of the beans from the first pot of stock.
6) Dice the pancetta finely, and transfer half of the beans to food processor to mash.
7) Return pancetta and mashed beans to the stock, and combine with the vegetable stock.