Ontario Summer Vegetable Minestrone, Gluten Free and Vegetarian

"The definitive recipe for any Italian dish has not yet appeared. We're still creating." Luigi Barzini

Hello followers, how are you liking the cooler weather? Frankly, I love the rain!
Yesterday my sweetie and I enjoyed and lazy, lazy Sunday together and I must say, it was delightful! It's days like that when I feel like cooking, but not venturing out to the store to buy ingredients. It's days like that when I consider myself the 'MacGyver of the kitchen' and raid the fridge and pantry, challenging myself to come up with something tasty made solely with the mish mash of ingredients on hand. Usually Sundays mean brunch in our little world, but yesterday there was a slight chill in the air that had me thinking of soup! Oh soup, how I love thee! After my quick peek around the kitchen, I gave my sweetie the choice of an Asian flavoured soup with rice noodles or a hearty summer vegetable minestrone. With the comment that we often eat Asian (or my version of combining any and all Asian flavours together until dinner tastes good!), Kev decided upon the minestrone. Sounded great to me, considering that we had a bottle of Chianti open and no sake in sight! So, here is the recipe I came up with on a lazy, wine sipping, early Sunday afternoon! Thank goodness the years of recipe developing and testing has taught me to write everything down, even with a few glasses of Chianti! Ha!

Simple and Tasty Recipe:

Ontario Summer Vegetable Minestrone, Gluten Free and Vegetarian
(serves 6 to 8)

2 tbsp olive oil, good quality
1 onion, chopped
2 carrots, chopped
1 celery stock, chopped
1/2 each zucchini and bell pepper, any colour
1 cup cabbage, chopped
3 garlic cloves, chopped
1 bay leaf
3 sprigs of fresh thyme
1/4 cup tomato paste
1 cup beans, any kind, drained and rinsed
3 or 4 big kale leaves, rinsed and chopped
Sea salt and fresh ground pepper, to taste
6 super ripe field tomatoes, chopped or 1 x 796ml tin diced tomatoes, preferably salt free
1 L water or your fave stock (use more liquid for a thinner soup, less for a thicker)
4 big leaves each fresh basil and oregano, chopped
Handful spinach, baby or chopped large leaves

In a large pot, add the oil on medium heat. Toss in the onion, carrot, celery, zucchini, bell pepper, cabbage, garlic, bay leaf and thyme. Stir and cook for about 6 to 8 mins, until the onions begin to soften. Stir in the tomato paste, beans and kale with a pinch of salt and pepper and cook for a couple mins more. Add in the tomatoes and water and give it a good stir. Bring up to the boil, turn down to low heat and simmer with the lid partially covering the pot for about 30 to 35 mins. 
Stir in the fresh basil, oregano and spinach.
Taste the soup and adjust the seasoning with salt and pepper.
Serve on it's own, top it off with a drizzle of good quality extra virgin olive or sprinkle over some grated hard Italian cheese. Mangia! Mangia!

Well, there you have it! Of course, feel free to change things up a bit and make this recipe your own. I just used what was in the house, so don't be afraid to use what you have! Use a whole tin of beans instead of the 1 cup that I happened to have in the freezer; use a whole zucchini or pepper, it's up to you! With soup you can never go wrong, especially if you are using fresh, local veggies!
Bye for now my fun loving followers and I'll be back soon with another Culinary Adventure!