Winter Minestrone

 I have never met a vegetable that I did not like.  My husband on the other hand seems to have a running feud with quite a number of different vegetables.  A kind of family feud where no one can remember the how, or why or when it started.  So when I announced that the first soup  I was going to make was a minestrone, his face fell.  "You're going to make some cream soups too, right?".  I am sure I will.
   Since my sister and brother-in- law sent me a recipe I decided to follow it as best I could.  Ditalini pasta was no where to be found, so I substituted orzo which was cooked separately and added to the soup towards the end.  I don't usually consider zucchini a winter vegetable, but I decided to go with the flow and include it anyways.  I did not use canned beans but beans that I soaked and cooked that I happen to have on hand.





Winter Minestrone Soup   Yields 6  one cup servings

• 2  teaspoons olive oil
• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon dried basil
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 1/2 cup cubed acorn squash
• 3/4 cup diced zucchini
• 1/2 cup diced fennel
• 1 cup water
• 1 can (14 ounce) can fat free, less sodium chicken broth
• 5 tablespoons tomato paste
• 1/4 cup uncooked ditalini (very short tubed pasta)
• 2 1/2 cups chopped Swiss chard
• 1/2 cup rinsed and drained canned Great Northern Beans
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 2 tablespoons Asiago cheese

Heat oil in Dutch oven over medium - high heat.  Add onion, basil ,oregano and garlic and saute 5 minutes or until onion is tender.

Add squash, zucchini, carrot and fennel to the pan a saute 5 minutes.

Stir in 1 cup of water, broth and tomato paste and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer 10 minutes or until vegetables are crisp-tender.

Stir in pasta and cook 8 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Add chard and cook 3 minutes.

Add beans and cook 2 minute or until thoroughly heated.

Stir in pepper.  Garnish each bowl of soup with cheese.

Delicious .  I would like to add a couple of notes here.  When making soup these days, I rarely preheat the soup pot. I like to start with a cold pot and add the oil,onions, garlic and herbs with the burner flame on the lower side of medium. The onions and garlic have less chance of taking on color and seem sweeter.  Maybe I'm just lazy.  I know it flies in the face of convention, but try it sometime.