Copycat Carrabba's Minestrone Soup
This hearty minestrone soup is the closest you can get to Carrabba's staple recipe. The potatoes and cabbage make it more filling than other restaurant minestrone soups.
Ingredients
2 teaspoons olive oil1 large stalk celery diced small
2 large carrots sliced
1/2 small onion diced
4 cloves garlic minced
1/4 teaspoon salt or to taste
1/8 teaspoon black pepper or to taste
1/2 cup green beans snapped in 1 inch pieces
1 small yellow (summer) squash quartered and sliced
1 small zucchini squash quartered and sliced
4 cups green cabbage diced
1 tablespoon fresh parsley chopped
1/2 tablespoon basil (dried)
2 bay leaves
1 32-oz box vegetable broth low sodium, or low sodium chicken broth 4 cups water
1 14-oz can diced tomatoes
1.5 cups red potatoes diced
1 inch Parmesan cheese rind, or 2 T parmesan shavings
1 14-oz can garbanzo beans rinsed and drained
1 14-oz can cannellini beans (white kidney beans) rinsed and drained 1 14-oz can kidney beans rinsed and drained
Directions
1. Dice all vegetables; rinse and drain beans.
2. In a large pan, over medium heat, sauteĢ celery, carrots, onion, garlic, salt and pepper in olive oil. Cook until soft - about 5 minutes.
3. Add green beans, cabbage, zucchini, squash, parsley and basil and cook until soft. About 5 more minutes.
4. Puree half cannelini beans and half garbanzo beans in a blender.
5. Add vegetable or chicken stock, water, bay leaves, diced tomatoes, beans (including bean puree), parmesan rind and potatoes. Allow soup to boil and immediately reduce to low. Simmer for 30-40 minutes until potatoes are soft.
6. Remove parmesan rind--if there’s any left. Serve warm.
Tips
You can use either vegetable or chicken broth for this recipe. Just be sure it's low sodium and adjust salt and pepper as needed. If you cannot find a chunk of parmesan cheese with the rind on it, you can use 2 T of shaved parmesan.
Nutritional data
Yield: 8 ServingsServing Size: 2 cupsFull Plate Living is a small-step approach with big health outcomes. It's provided as a free service of Ardmore Institute of Health.
