Summer Vegetable Minestronewith zucchini / bell peppers
Minestrone isn't just for cool weather. This one comes together fast and makes great use of summer's bounty of fresh vegetables.
Ingredients
- Pasta, macaroni - 2 oz (sub any small pasta shape)
- Onions, medium - 1, chopped
- Carrots - 6 oz, diced
- Bell peppers, red - 1/2, diced
- Zucchini - 8 oz, diced
- Garlic - 3 cloves, chopped
- Corn - 2 ears, kernels sliced off (sub frozen corn, ~1/2 cup / ear)
- Beans, cannellini or white (14 oz / 397 g) - 1 can, drained and rinsed
- Oil, olive - 1 Tbsp
- Italian seasoning - 2 tsp
- Paprika, smoked - 1 tsp
- Tomato paste - 3 Tbsp
- Stock, any type - 5 cups
- Tomatoes, diced (14 oz / 397 g) - 1 can
- Cheese, parmesan rind, small (opt) - 1
- Bay leaves - 1
- Basil - 8 leaves, chiffonade
- Lemon juice - 1 tsp
- Cheese, parmesan (opt) - for serving, grated
Nutrition Facts
Prep
- Pasta - (If making Thursday night’s meal, boil pasta for that night at the same time.) Boil pasta according to package directions. (Can be done up to 5 days ahead)
- Onions / Carrots / Bell peppers / Zucchini / Garlic - Prep as directed. Store onions, carrots, and bell peppers in one container. Store zucchini and garlic in their own containers. (Can be done up to 5 days ahead)
- Corn - Shuck corn and slice kernels off cobs. Place in a microwave safe dish and cover with a damp paper towel. Heat until corn is tender but still has some crunch, ~2 minutes. (If using frozen corn, defrost.) (Can be done 1 day ahead)
- Beans - Drain and rinse.
Make
- Heat a Dutch oven with oil over medium heat. Add onions, carrots, and bell peppers and saute until tender and lightly caramelized, 5 to 7 minutes. Season with a pinch of salt.
- Add garlic, Italian seasoning, paprika, and tomato paste. Saute for 2 minutes more.
- Stir in stock and tomatoes (including liquid).
- Add zucchini, parmesan cheese rind (if using), and bay leaves. Bring soup to a simmer and simmer until zucchini is tender, 5 to 7 minutes.
- While soup simmers, chiffonade basil.
- Return to soup and stir in corn and beans. Simmer until heated through.
- Remove soup from heat. Stir in lemon juice and season with some salt and pepper
- Divide pasta between serving bowls (reserve the portion for Thursday night if made together).
- Ladle soup over pasta. Top bowls with fresh basil and parmesan cheese. Enjoy!
Nutrition Facts
Reviews
This meal has 30 reviews
This soup was amazing! My 5 year old had 3 bowls! I did the sauté steps 1 and 2 in the Instant Pot, then added the remaining ingredients including the pasta (upped to 3 Oz because my boys like macaroni) and put under high pressure for 4 minutes. It was perfect! Super quick and easy. We will make this again this summer when we have lots of zucchini to use!
Good way to clean out the fridge and use lots of CSA veggies -- I used the wide variety I had rather than those in the recipe. The flavoring felt heavy on the Italian seasoning -- maybe with some different seasoning I could love it.
simple. delicious. great leftovers.
This was an easy, unexpected delight. Loved it.
Super flavorful!
Put everything into the slow cooker, except the pasta. Added the uncooked pasta 30 minutes before we wanted to eat. So easy!!