Vegan & Oil-Free
In the ‘Blue Zones Kitchen: 100 Recipes to Live to 100’ cookbook, we are offered 3 Sardinian family-favorite Minestrone recipes—2 of which estimate a prep time of 8 hours. I liked elements of all three, and created my own version, ‘My Best Blue Zones Minestrone’. It is easy, uses canned beans of choice, features small shell shaped pasta (optional), and is simply delicious! Serves 6-8
*beans – I used precooked black eye peas & lima beans from my freezer. Use your favorite bean like chickpeas, cranberry, cannellini, etc.
Add the onion to a medium-hot pan and stir. Add a couple of tablespoons broth or water, stir, cover, and cook for 2-3 minutes. Stir in carrots and celery with a couple of tablespoons of broth and cover for 2-3 minutes. Stir in the garlic and fennel and cover for 2-3 minutes.
Add the parsley, oat groats or barley, tomatoes, veggie broth, water, and Italian seasoning. Cook 30 minutes until grain is nearly tender.
Stir in 4 cups beans, and the greens. The soup will thicken as the beans release their starch, and upon sitting, so add more broth or water if desired. Now either stir in the pasta, or do as I did in the video—‘float’ a pasta-filled strainer in the broth of the soup pot. Be sure the pasta is well covered. Bring to a simmer, cover, and cook 15 minutes more. If pasta is in the strainer, remove when cooked, draining broth back into the pot. Later, spoon the cooked pasta over the individual dishes when time to serve. The difference is that the pasta is removed and served on top of the soup. Add lemon juice as well as salt and pepper to taste. Serve in wide bowls, garnish with parsley and pasta (if cooked separately). Enjoy with salad and crusty bread.
