Minestrone soup

When winter season kicks in, minestrone soup will be in our house at least once a week for dinner. It is very simple and easy to make. During winter in the evening when the temperature goes down and you want to snuggle inside your blanket to keep you warm, how about trying a soup that will keep you warm? Having a couple of vegetables like the celery, squash and canned stewed tomatoes is good enough to make the soup......

Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 10 minutes
Serving size: 4
Note: I try to reduce the overall cooking time by doing some of the preparation in parallel with the cooking. This is true with all the recipes that I have blogged so far.

Ingredients

• 1 can of stewed tomatoes
• 2 stems of celery (chopped)
• 1/2 medium sized onion(finely chopped)
• 3 tsp of olive oil
• 2 garlic cloves (minced or grated)
• 1 zucchini/squash chopped
• 1/2 carrot chopped
• 10 strands of parsley chopped
• 1/2 tsp of dried Italian herbs(if parsley or no other herbs are added)
• salt to taste

 Preparation

1. Grind the stewed tomatoes and keep it aside.
2. Chop onions finely. Cut the celery, zucchini/squash, carrot into smaller pieces.

Cooking

1. Add olive oil to a vessel(the size of the vessel should be such that it can hold soup for 4 people) and set the stove to medium heat.
2. When the oil is warm add the finely chopped onion and fry for 30 seconds.
3. Add the minced garlic and fry for 20 seconds. Take care not to over fry the garlic and onion.
4. Add the chopped celery and fry for 30 seconds.
5. Add the chopped zucchini/squash, carrots and fry for 30 seconds.
6. Add the ground tomato puree with additional 2 glasses of water.
7. Add salt per your taste, the chopped parsley and other dried Italian herbs when the soup is cooking.
8. Allow the soup to boil for 5- 6 minutes. Hot minestrone soup is ready to be served.....

Note: You can cook some shell pastas and add to the soup when its boiling. You can also add chopped green capsicum and some cooked kidney beans. For people who like herbs adding some freshly chopped rosemary or oregano also gives good aroma and taste to the soup.

Nutritional facts
Tomato and zucchini with their bright colors are full of anti-oxidants. The vitamins in tomato help in skin protection and boosting the immune system. Celery removes unwanted fluid from your body and is high in fiber content. So its good for lowering weight as well as LDL cholesterol. Zucchini helps in lowering blood pressure. Carrot with its vitamin C improves vision, nourishes skin and  has anti-aging quality.

My neighbors and friends enjoyed the soup. Give it a try and see how you like it. Please let me know your comments or questions.......


You may also be interested in these recipes:

Pepper-Garlic Rasam

Masala Chai (Spiced Tea)

Garbanzo-Spinach Patties