Minestrone with pesto Genovese (basil pesto)

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5 from 51 votes

Minestrone with pesto Genovese (basil pesto)

A delicious and nutritious Italian minestrone served with basil pesto.

Prep Time20

Cook Time1 10

Course: Main Course, Soup

Cuisine: Italian, Liguria, Mediterranean, Northern Italy

Keyword: basil pesto, Minestrone, pasta soup

Servings:

Calories: 558kcal

Author: Jacqui

Ingredients

150 g spaghetti (5-6oz) or other soup pasta
200 g borlotti beans (cranberry beans) (7oz) canned or dried and cooked. Fresh borlotti can be used when in season (see notes)
1 leek large. Cleaned and sliced
2 potatoes peeled and cut into cubes
2-3 carrots washed and cut into cubes
½ squash I used a small butternut squash
2-3 zucchini washed and cubed
1-2 celery stalks washed and cubed
½ wild cabbage (type of kale) or savoy cabbage ( cleaned and sliced)
½ red cabbage (cleaned and sliced) or greens like chard, spinach
2-3 tablespoon basil pesto homemade or ready-made (if homemade leave out pine-nuts)
1 piece Parmigiano rind (optional)
Parmigiano Reggiano grated (optional) for serving
3 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil.
salt to taste
freshly ground black pepper. to taste

Instructions

Prepare the ingredients.

If using dried beans soak overnight and then rinse and cook in lightly salted water for about 40 minutes. Save 2 cups of the cooking water and drain.
Peel the potatoes, peel and remove the seeds from the squash, remove the outer leaves from the cabbages. Wash/clean all the other veggies and then cut potatoes, squash, carrots, celery and zucchini into cubes and slice leeks and cabbages and greens.

Cook the minestrone.

Sauté the sliced leeks in the olive oil for a couple of minutes. Then add all the other vegetables. Mix and add a salt to taste and enough water to just cover the veggies. Simmer on a low-medium heat for about 30 minutes.
Add the cooked beans with 1-2 cups of the bean cooking water (or drained canned beans) and the parmigiano rind (if using). Simmer for another 30 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste.
Use a fork to mash (puree) some of the potatoes and beans in the pot. Add the pasta and continue cooking until it’s al dente. If your soup seems dry, pour in some hot water.

Serve your minestrone.

When the soup is ready, remove from the heat and add the pesto. Mix gently and serve. You can also add the pesto to each serving once it is plated. (I like to do this).
This minestrone with pesto can also be served tepid and tastes even better the next day. However, the pasta will absorb more liquid so you may want to add some water when reheating leftovers.

Notes

You can use broken spaghetti or small tubes like ditalini as well as other soup pasta (pastina). Rice can also be used instead if you like it better. Or you can leave the pasta out altogether if you’re on a low carb diet or just prefer it that way.

I actually set half my minestrone aside before adding the pasta. I prefer to add the pasta just before serving. This minestrone tastes even better the next day but the pasta will absorb a lot of the liquid. You can either just add some water when reheating leftovers or set aside some soup before adding pasta as I did.

If you use fresh borlotti, just add them in with the rest of the veggies.

If you want to make homemade pesto check out this pesto pasta recipe for instructions.

Nutrition