Lord of the Beans: One Soup to Rule Them All

I once read a parody of Tolkien's "The Two Towers," which that gave the name Minas Troney to one of the towers (get it?).  The book was the most worthless bundle of paper and ink I ever wasted money on, and I'm confident I never finished reading it and threw it away, but every time I eat or make minestrone soup, I think of it.

Read more after the jump...

Don't worry, Frodo, the recipe is easy!

I was expecting an unconfirmed dinner guest one night, and since I knew I wouldn't have much time after work to cook something, I made a big pot of plain red kidney beans ahead of time, since I knew that they can be turned into a number of quick and delicious dinners.

Well, the dinner guest wasn't able to make it at the last minute, so I was left with the pot of beans and lots of options.  I dug through the fridge to see what else I had, and sure enough, my CSA had supplied me with all of the produce I needed for a simple, improvised minestrone soup. 

In less than an hour, I had a beautiful, wholesome soup that tasted of fresh vegetables and summer's long kiss goodbye. (Like seriously, summer, can you hit the road already? It's halfway through October and  it was 90 degrees at work today.)

A few notes about this recipe:

• In my opinion, oregano always overpowers a minestrone, so I substituted arugula, which brought a nutty note that complemented the bright freshness of the vegetables.
• I cooked the pasta with the rest of the soup so that the starch would thicken the broth a bit.  Also, don't worry if the beans start to break down; they will also thicken the broth.  You want a broth with a little substance, ya know?

I had way more soup than I knew what to do with, so I shared!

One-Pot Minestrone

6 roma tomatoes

3 carrots

2 large zucchini

1 yellow onion

2 garlic cloves

2 tbsp olive oil

1/2 cup arugula, chopped

2 cups of cooked red kidney beans

2 cups of uncooked pasta - shells, elbows, diatini, or mostaccioli, which I used

8 cups water + 1/4c homemade bouillon

OR 8 cups vegetable or chicken stock

Chop carrots and zucchini into small, equally-sized pieces. Mince the garlic and onion.

Heat olive oil over medium heat in a large pot (I use my Dutch oven) until shimmering. Roughly chop 5 of the 6 tomatoes and add to the pot. Cook tomatoes until they break down.

Remove tomatoes to a food mill and purée back into the pot. If you don't have a food mill, use an immersion blender to purée the tomatoes.  Or just mash'em really well with a potato masher.  See? I give you options because I love you.

Add onion and garlic to the tomato purée. Roughly chop the remaining tomato and add back to the pot. Add the zucchini and carrot to the pot and stir into the tomato purée, coating all the pieces.  Cook for 2-3 minutes.

Add the water and bouillon or stock to the pot and bring to a boil. Add the uncooked pasta, bring the liquid back to a boil, and cook for 10 minutes.

Add the beans and arugula to the pot. Taste broth, adjust seasoning, and cook for 5-10 more minutes, until the pasta is al dente. The pasta soaks up most of the broth, so add more water to the pot if necessary.  It won't diminish the flavor of the broth; the vegetables will still be front and center in your mouth.

Serve with Parmesan cheese.