The Best Quick Minestrone

And yes, it's time for a soup recipe. The weather was cold and very rainy here today and Minestrone entered my mind. My original Minestra is a two day affair but this needed to be quicker. It was so delicious that I need to get it down on paper.

This makes a nice big pot - plenty for 8 (enough for the three of us for 2 dinners, a couple of lunches).
Prep time is about 40 minutes
Cooking time is at least an hour

Ingredients

About 1/2 lb of any kind of beef, cut into small pieces 
1 onion, diced
1 big leek, diced
3 carrots, diced
Olive Oil
1 bunch of swiss chard
1 small can diced tomatoes
2 qts chicken or beef stock
salt, pepper, thyme
Parmegianno-Reg, grated and rind
1 can chick peas
1/2 cup of Orzo (or other small pasta)

4 shallots, cut in half polar-wise and sliced

Saute the beef in olive oil. Remove from pan

Diced and drop the onions, leeks and carrots (in that order). Let them saute till tender
Add about 1 tsp salt and 1 tsp pepper, 1/4 tsp of thyme (to taste)
I considered adding red pepper flakes at this point.

Return the beef to the pot along with
Stock, Tomatos, Chick Peas, Swiss Chard and Parm rind

Simmer about an hour or so. 

Add the orzo in the last 20 minutes (or so).

I sauteed the sliced shallots in olive oil for a good 20 minutes or so and used that as a garnish. It was worth the bit of extra trouble. It added a nice sweetness to the soup and an extra texture.

Serve with parm atop. 

Heaven. It was worth the wait. Whatever is in your fridge or to your taste works here. 
The proportions of liquids to solids should remain the same. It's a nice hearty soup.

Comments

[Sharon W.]

POLAR=WISE? Is that the opposite of "equator=wise"??? visually handicapped here, but nevertheless the recipe is printed and headed for a trial run. sounds great!!!

[marta traughber]

sounds yummy!

[Diana Trout]

lol, yes, I was trying to figure out how to say that quickly. It doesn't matter as long as you don't cut your finger. You'll have to let me know how you like it. Hubs just said it could have used more meat. Why am I not surprised by that?

[Diana Trout]

It was really great! I thought I had beef stock on hand but the chicken stock worked fine. Veg stock would be fine too.

[Miss Mary]

THANK you for posting this recipe. Can't wait to try it and send it to friends! I love your blog. What a wonderful artist you are, and more!

[Barb J.]

Going to give this a try. Hubby loves soup.
Barb
NC

[Diana Trout]

Thank you Miss Mary, eat in good health

[Mary Beth]

this sounds awesome :)

[Diana Trout]

Who doesn’t love a pot of soup? Enjoy

[Diana Trout]

Eat in good health! It’s good to have in the freezer too.