Jul 25, 2024 3 min read

This week’s column is a gift from me to you.

Our Common Ground Teen Center Cooking Camp just finished. We’ve hosted a cooking camp annually, starting in 2020 with a virtual camp. We also facilitate a Cooking Club every Thursday at the center. I’ve had numerous requests for some of the recipes, so I decided to share. These recipes are my family’s own – use them in good health. Today’s is Italian comfort food in a bowl – minestrone!

This recipe is from my mama. My papa also cooked. I learned early what a true partnership was like by watching my parents pull together to share household tasks and parent me. Such a beautiful lesson!

Mama Cirelli’s Minestrone (Adapted for real life by her daughter!)

Make this soup your own. I’m convinced the first minestrone soup was made in a busy family where money was tight, and the parents threw everything in their garden into the soup!

You’ll need the following ingredients (leave out any veggies you or your family don’t like):

1. 4 cups chicken broth. Canned is fine. As I’ve gotten older, I use low-salt versions. If you can tolerate salt, I recommend using the typical kind! I reserve an extra cup of broth in case the soup is too thick (Yes, Mama made it from stock. I did that once.)

2. 1 small can tomato paste (Italian seasoned is a plus). Use from ½ can to a whole can, depending on how tomatoey you want the soup to taste.

3. 1 20 oz. can chopped or diced Italian seasoned tomatoes (use the juice)

4. Medium bulk pork sausage, sautéed in small pieces and drained. If you use the same pot for the soup as the sautéing, wash the pot (leave out for vegetarian soup, but it’s not as tasty!). Pork tastes wonderful, but I’ve switched to chicken sausage lately (not at the Teen Center, however).

5. 3 cloves garlic, minced

6. 1/2 to 1 small onion, chopped

7. 1 tsp. to 1 tbsp. olive oil for sautéing (depending on how much fat you want to use, but please use virgin olive oil. It makes a difference.)

8. 2 fresh basil leaves

9. The following fresh vegetables, diced or chopped as you like:

Small zucchini (skin on), 1/2 each green and red pepper, 3 white potatoes, 2 small, sweet potatoes, 6 small carrots, 3/4 cup fresh green beans, 1/2 cup fresh broccoli, 1/2 cup fresh cauliflower, 1/2 cup corn, 3/4 cup fresh mushrooms. You can also use chopped frozen veggies (again, not as good but works in an pinch).

10. 1 small can each of the following:

Northern beans, kidney beans, cannellini beans, and ceci (chickpea) beans (all drained)

11. Pasta (pre-cooked, drained and then added to the soup); ditalini or acini de pepe. You could use a thin spaghetti or vermicelli, but then the pasta must be cut into small pieces. The ditalini and acini de pepe are easier to eat. If you boil the pasta in the soup it soaks up all the broth.

To fix: Brown the sausage well and drain, sauté the garlic and onion (use the olive oil to sauté), add the broth, canned tomatoes and tomato paste, bring to slow boil, add chopped fresh veggies, stir, bring to boil, lower heat and cook slowly for 1 hour. Add the canned beans, heat. Boil the pasta separately, drain and add. Heat. Serve with grated mozzarella and parmesan cheese as toppings and fresh bread.

Add a salad, and you’ve got a great meal.

Mangia, bella (eat, beautiful).

Have a question? Send it to Dr. Mary Jo Podgurski’s email podmj@healthyteens.com.