Restaurant Recipes

On a cold winter night, you can make up a batch of the hearty soup for dinner. There’s nothing like the aroma of this soup when you walk in the house from a cool evening out.

Olive Garden™ Minestrone soup not only tastes amazing, it leaves you feeling quite full. One of the most searched for restaurant recipes, you’ll be proud to serve this to your family or friends. This isn’t the quickest recipe, but it’s definitely worth the effort.

I heard the real secret on this is to add a bit of red wine to the stock.  I didn’t put that into the “official” recipe, but you can feel free to experiment.

Recipe

• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 small minced white onion
• 1/2 cup chopped zucchini
• 1/2 cup frozen cut Italian green beans
• 1/2 stalk minced celery
• 4 cloves minced garlic
• 4 cups vegetable broth
• 2 cans (15 oz) red kidney beans, drained
• 2 cans (15 oz) great northern or small white beans, drained
• 1 can (14 oz) diced tomatoes
• 1/2 cup shredded carrot
• 2 tablespoons minced parsley
• 1 1/2 teaspoons dried oregano
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon dried basil
• 1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
• 3 cups hot water
• 4 cups fresh baby spinach
• 1/2 cup small shell pasta

Measure olive oil into a large stock pot and heat on medium.

Put the onion, celery, garlic, green beans, and zucchini into the pot and saute for about 5 minutes or until the onions become see-through.

Add the vegetable broth, drained tomatoes, beans, carrots, hot water and spices to the pot.

Bring to a boil and then reduce to a simmer for 20 minutes.

Add the spinach leaves and the pasta and cook for an additional 20 minutes.