Vegetable Minestrone

Nick’s Favorite Soup (he doesn’t like soup…but loves this one)

Vegetable Minestrone

Printable Recipe

After the weekend, I like to start the week with something light but hearty as well; not necessarily vegetarian but definitely no meat; hence the name Meatless Monday.  I got the idea when I watched an Oprah show a few years ago and apparently I think that The Chew features “Meatless Monday” too…I don’t know for sure but I did see something about it on Pinterest.

Last week I was walking through the produce section in my super market, thinking what should I make for Meatless Monday….Minestrone I thought, so I gathered what I thought would be tasty, what was selling and what vegetables looked good and on sale.

Next I washed the escarole, a green leafy vegetable that is so delicate yet not the easiest to prepare.

Escarole is very sandy and needs to be cleaned well.  I take the escarole apart and place it in a very large bowl. I add water filling up the bowl with lukewarm water; swish it around.  Lift the escarole out of the water and place the escarole onto a strainer, the water in the bowl will be sandy, dirty and black; (It is what it is) dump this water and repeat until the water is clear and clean. Two heads of escarole took me 4 times to clean it thoroughly.

Once that was done I roughly cut it with my hands breaking them in half then breaking it again.
In the meantime the pot, with simmering vegetables, is steaming on a low heat (forgot to mention that before) I could smell the broccoli and cauliflower, to that I added 4 cups of chicken broth and 4 cups of water. You may use vegetable broth, which will then make this dish vegetarian.  I raised the heat a bit, bringing it to a slight roll, and then I added the escarole, which looks like a lot but eventually wilts into the soup.  I cooked everything for about 45 to 60 minutes on a very low heat. Any kind of grains can be added to this soup such as barley, rice and quinoa. If I were to add any grains, I would probably only add 1/4 of a cup; I think a little will go a long way and will expand in the soup.  You can also add protein; such as beans like red, white, or navy.

We ate this as I made it; not adding anything else to it; on the side were a warm Rye bread and a salad.   I added to my minestrone black pepper and a sprinkle of Romano cheese.