Minestrone

January is here and the cold weather has arrived so time for more soup recipes.  This recipe comes from Giada De Laurentiis watching a Christmas special she did from Colorado I knew it would go over well at this house.  I have heard about Jim's Nan Taylor's Minestrone for years, but didn't have the recipe.  Here she is in her wedding picture on a previous post for Stuffed Peppers.  Well this recipe according to him comes as close as he can remember to hers.  Everyone has loved it, it is so healthy, hearty, easy which all means it'll get made often.  If you don't need the whole recipe package some for lunches it reheats well.  I made a few small changes here is her post at the Food Network site:  Winter Minestrone


Minestrone

Ingredients:

2 T olive oil
1 onion
2 carrots chopped
2 celery stalks chopped
3 oz pancetta chopped
2 garlic cloves minced
1 lb Kale, chopped
1 potato peeled & cubed
1 --14 1/2 oz can of diced tomatoes
1 sprig fresh rosemary
1 --15oz can cannellini beans
28oz of low sodium beef broth
1 chunk of Parmesan Rind
parsley, salt & pepper

Directions:

Heat the oil in a large pot over medium heat.  Saute onion, carrots, celery, pancetta, and garlic about 10 min.  Add the Kale and potato saute for 2 more minutes.  Add tomatoes and rosemary sprig and simmer till tomatoes begin to break down.  Separate the beans using 3/4 cup of beans with some of the broth to puree them, I used the hand blender.  Stir this mixture into pot with rest of broth and Parmesan rind.  Simmer soup stirring occasionally till potato is tender.  Add the rest of the beans, parsley, salt and pepper to taste heat through.  Remove rosemary stem and Parmesan rind to serve.

If you want to make it even heartier add some lean beef.