Minestrone recipe!
Don't be daunted by the long ingredients list, this recipe is dead easy (just takes a lot of chopping). With temperatures (finally) dropping to seasonal levels, we're making some hearty soups and stews. This week, hubby wanted to do Minestrone, and we got an armful of great seasonal veggies to toss in, too!
Minestrone is one of those recipes where everyone has their own way to do it. It's super versatile, and incredible customizable. You can replace the spinach with any number of leafy greens (though if you're using kale, chard, or collard greens, you should add it earlier), you can replace the pasta with any number of interesting shapes, or even rice, you can replace the zucchini with squash or pumpkin, you can replace the chick peas with any number of different kinds of beans, you can replace the herbs you're using, and you can replace (or omit!) the cheese on top when you serve!
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You are right! It is incredibly versatile! I add chipolte for some bite! We add cooked greens at serving time because my husband likes spinach & I prefer broccoli. Also, I store my cooked pasta separately & add it at serving time, because it gets too soft when it sits in the soup.
Those little dried Thai bird chiles usually have a lot of heat, but the one we chopped up in this recipe just didn't have much bite. I guess it got a bit overwhelmed by all the other veggies in there. It was a LOT of food.
Totally agree on the pasta, too, but those little pasta stars don't seem to totally disintegrate after being in the soup overnight, though they are certainly no longer al dente.
That was definitely the longest ingredients shot I've ever done for our channel 
Next week's is going to be an incredible rich beef bourgignon.
