Minestrone Soup

By Nilson

This is as close as I can come to what I did for Book Club soup.

Ingredients

• 1 T. Olive Oil or so
• 1/4 pound pancetta in a very small dice
• 2 large onions---diced
• 3 stalks celery---sliced
• 3 large carrots in small julienne
• 2 cloves garlic-tiny dice
• 2 Tablespoon tomato paste
• 1 large can diced tomatoes--the kind in a thicker juice
• 2 zucchini cubed
• 1/2 a small bag of frozen green beans
• 2 cans cannelinni beans
• 1/2 head savoy cabbage (curly)
• Few sprigs of Italian parsley
• 4 cans beef broth
• 1 parmesan rind
• potatoes-- diced
• pasta

Preparation

Step 1

Saute the pancetta in olive oil. Add onion, celery and carrots and cook together until the onion is soft add the garlic but don't brown it. Add the tomato paste to a corner of the pan and brown it a bit. Stir in the tomatoes and cook a few minutes. Add the broth and maybe some beef bouillon (Better than Bouillon). Let that simmer a while--30 minutes. Chill and remove most of the fat. (bye bye Pancetta) Reheat and add the rest of the vegetables and the parmesan rind and after they are cooked enough to serve add the parsley. I left out the potatoes most recipes called for and the pasta but later I served it pouring hot soup over cooked penne and it really improved it. Sprinkle with parmesan. Next time I will only use 1 can of beans.