Minestrone Soup

1. Take a non-stick deep pan.
2. Sauté the bacon into it at low heat until it turns brown.
3. Add chopped onions and diced celery until it turns translucent.
4. Add minced garlic into the mix and let it all cook for about a minute.
5. Add chicken broth, water and tomato puree into the pan.
6. Let it all simmer for a few minutes.
7. Add cranberry beans and cabbage.
8. Spice up this soup with some red pepper flakes, dry Italian herbs and salt.
9. Add some canned garbanzo beans to make the soup even heavier.
10. Turn the heat to medium low and let the soup simmer for about 45 minutes or until the cranberry beans are tender.
11. Until the soup cooks, slice up some Swiss chard leaves, thoroughly washed.
12. Keep adding water to the soup if you feel it’s getting too thick.
13. As soon as you feel that the beans are finally tender, throw in the Swiss chards into the soup. Stir well and let them cook for another 15 minutes.
14. Add more water as the soup thickens as you will need sufficient water to cook the pasta.
15. Add more seasoning of salt and pepper into the soup before adding pasta into it.
16. Throw in the past and let the soup simmer at medium to high heat. In 15 minutes time the pasta will be cooked.
17. Ladle out this amazing big soup into some big bowls and serve it hot!

Trivia

• Minestrone Soup translates to the ‘big’ soup as it has some of the most filling ingredients.
• It was known as one of the humble dishes, as it mostly needed leftover ingredients from other foods.
• It was also one of the favorites for weddings and celebrations.