Minestrone Stew
Here's a recipe for Minestrone Stew. Nice for a weeknight, or if you're a little under the weather.
Effort Rating: 2.5/5
Ingredients:
- 1 Big Onion (Yellow or White)
- 3 Garlic Cloves
- 1 Carrot
- 2 Celery Sticks
- Olive Oil to cover the bottom of your cooking receptacle
- 1 Can Diced Tomato
- 1.5 Cups Water
- 2/3rd Tbsp Miso paste
- 1/3rd Cup Pearl Barley
- Oregano, Thyme, Salt, & Pepper to taste
Required Tools
- A Choppy Knife
- Instant Pot, or more patience and a saucepan
- A Spoon to stir with
- A Can Opener for the tomato can
- Measuring spoons/cups
Instructions
Prep
- Dice the Onion
- Mince the Garlic
- Chop Celery into half-moon slices
- Peel and Chop the Carrot into slices, whatever shape you like
- Open the can of tomatoes with your can opener
Cook Veggies
- Oil the bottom of the pot and add the onion and garlic.
- Get the pot to medium heat (or go saute mode on the instant pot)
- Sweat the onions/garlic mixture while stirring for about 4 minutes, till kinda translucent
- Add the Celery and Carrot slices and cook till soft, probably another 4 minutes or so
- Add oregano, thyme, salt, and pepper to taste
Soup Time
- Add the can of diced tomatoes
- Add the water and Miso paste. Stir well to distribute the paste so you get a nice soup stock going.
- Simmer for 10 minutes
- If tweaking the recipe, add frozen veggies here for extra bulk/heartiness
- Add the pearl barley. If using an instant pot, cover and go Soup mode for about 8 minutes. Otherwise, cover and cook till the barley is done.
- Serve into your favourite soup bowls.
Tweaks
I make this recipe pretty stew-y. You might like it more soup-y. If you do, I'd probably add another cup of water, and 2/3rds tbsp of miso paste to keep the stock consistent. You can also add some frozen veggies in there towards the end if you want it a bit bulkier, which I do sometimes. Green beans, peas, maybe even broccoli? Sometimes we'll also add some potatoes for extra starch/bulk, and those probably should go in with the tomato and water so they can boil up nicely. The spice mix can probably also be tweaked to your liking, if you prefer basil or some other savoury herbs instead of thyme. The dish is pretty flexible I think. The world is your soup bowl.
