Summer Minestrone With Fresh Basil Recipe (2024)

Xcellent soup. Modifications I made for 1) family palate and 2) available ingredients: No turnip. I did 50/50 water and Costco organic chicken stock. Didn't have Parmesan rind so I used Gruyere. Good Italian canned plum tomatoes hold up better than fresh. I always cook my pasta separately for soup. Put in the bottom of the bowl and pour soup over. This helps with leftovers so pasta doesn't get mushy. Just keep in a baggie in the frig. I use leek versus onion.

substitute barley or farro for pasta

I thought, as I put this together, that it's a perfect template for young or new cooks to learn, not only because it is inexpensive, healthy and easy, but also because it can be created fairly quickly and even more cheaply by a group of hungry friends, and will, with some bread and wine, teach what luxury is really all about.

Added three tablespoons of tomato paste. Gives the broth a more full-bodied flavor

This is a fantastic summer recipe. I used canned tomatoes. Next time I will use fresh. Also, I would go with a small turnip in the future. It is a powerful flavor and highjacks the soup a bit if it's too big.

Just use the "Cooking" search function.
MRS's recipe for Pistou is titled:
"Pesto and Pistou".
It is excellent as are most of her recipes.
Enjoy.

Roasted some veggies I had on hand, yellow and green squash, whole bulb of fresh garlic, 2 ears of corn, leek, walla walla onion, tomatoes and put all of this in pan with can of tomatoes, cannellini beans, a piece of parmesan rind, a little water and then added some fresh snap peas. Did not add pasta. Had some arugula pesto in refrigerator so added a spoonful to each serving - it was absolutely divine. I know I made changes but still a big thanks to Martha!

Parsnips are great in this. Also potatoes, rutabagas, kohlrabi or celery root. Anything white us a great addition!

While I insist on cooking most soups on the stove, this is also lovely in the instant pot. I do the pasta first , set the time to 3 minutes ( adjust for whole wheat pasta) and instant release when done.Drain, save. Follow instructions for rest of recipe but leave out the zucchini and Parmesan till the end, You simply sauté the vegetables in the pot, add liquid, set to 10 -12 minutes,quick release, add zucchini and cheese, simmer.

I loved this recipe, cooking the beans separately was brilliant. I also cook the pasta separately as well. It can last for more than one meal that way. I added a little chard, as I had some in the garden. Didn’t have the rind, but added a about 1/2 parmesan while it was simmering, and a little extra garlic. Oh, and I used vegetable broth,instead of water.

This soup takes us through the summer. When tomatoes are less than great, I use canned. And, homemade chicken stock or a dollop of glace de poulet really enriches it.

Delicious! A big hit with my husband who is trying to avoid saturated fats. Thanks to all the notes—they really helped. I added a fennel bulb from the garden sliced thick on a mandoline then diced. Added a sprig of rosemary to the bouquet. To a doubled recipe I added 2 tbls tomato paste, 3 tbls vegetable stock base and added the zucchini and green beans at the end. Next time I may parboil the green beans. Used Marcella white beans from Rancho Gordo. The pistou makes this soup divine.

A perfectly delicious soup! The only changes that I made were that I used 18 oz of crushed tomatoes, chickpeas instead of cannellini beans, dried thyme instead of fresh and homemade chicken broth. I didn't bother to tie bouquet garni - just fished the whole parsely and bay leaf out before serving. Also, I just sprinkled it with parmesan - I don't think it needed the pistou, although I'm sure it would be good.

This was excellent. The broth was very flavorful. I think using a high quality Parmesan rind helped. I did not have cannellini beans so used a combination of chick peas and red beans. Easy to make and very flexible recipe.

Superb! Made as written except I used chicken stock instead of water. Served with croutons. Hearty and delicious.

Do.Not.Skip.The.Cheese.Rind. It is heaven. Use homemade veg stock. Trust.

Turned out a bit bland without a solid tomato taste. Could be that my tomatoes weren't ideally ripe. Ratio of "stuff" to broth was good. I'll try it again and use canned tomato plus maybe 50/50 water to chicken broth.

Quite nice. Can be made in stages

Simply, Spectacular soup. I used Pecorino Romano rind and less pasta - 1/3 cup of orzo.

Quite time consuming and just, meh. I would use chicken stock instead of water the next time, and perhaps add a little tomato paste.

I found it bland and have a lot of leftover soup. Thinking of adding veg stock and tomato paste and much more garlic.

Made for Mom on our surprise birthday visit in 2023. She loved it!

This recipe did not disappoint. I followed someone’s suggestion and roasted my cherries tomatoes before. I added olive oil salt and the honey pepper the recipe required. I do like a kick do i doubled the ginger, the garlic and the red pepper flakes. I followed anything suggestion, and used an entire can of coconut milk to the mixture and used half to rice which I made in the rice cooker. The verdict was: restaurant quality dinner. I am adding this to my recipe Rolodex. Make it!

As other reviewers noted, this recipe is a great basic template for whatever ingredients you have. I had squash, pepper and kale, and used this recipe to make an excellent light summer dinner. Recommend adding tomato paste when you cook the garlic.

This is a great recipe, my husband approves. These are the changes I made. Swapped water for chicken broth, chose a smaller turnip, didn’t tie up the herbs/cheese rind just tossed them in, cooked the pasta separately so it wouldnt soak up all the broth. If you have a larger pot that wouldn’t be an issue. Also I would recommend 1.5x or 2x the pasta.

Yummy! Whole family enjoyed this soup. I used cherry tomatoes because we had a bumper crop, summer squash instead of zucchini, a Serrano, rosemary, and thyme, all from the garden. I substituted radishes for a turnip because my market didn’t have turnips. Also used one quart chicken stock and one quart of water plus garbanzos and red kidney beans. Lesson is—use what you have or want and it’s still delicious!

Made this with a couple adjustments: half water - half bone broth as others suggested, parsnip instead of turnip because that’s what I had, and omitted the Parmesan since I’m dairy free at the moment. Still was very tasty!

For people that make this soup (or soups in general) frequently, I make bouquet garnis and freeze them -- use the large, dark green leaves from leeks, that you would usually discard. Fold a parm rind and fresh herbs in the leaves, and tie with twine, and put them in a ziploc, and freeze. So convenient.

Absolutely delish! Made this tonight for a birthday dinner and topped with parmesan fried bread crumbs. Executed recipe as written with three changes: - Used a 28oz can of whole peeled tomatoes - started by adding half and then just dumped the rest in. Added so much flavor! - Used 50/50 chicken stock/water - Increased the pasta by...a lot! :) Cavatelli was delightful.The only thing I would do differently next time is increase the chicken or vegetable stock to 2.5/3 quarts for more broth.