Eggplant Minestrone

loof's Note:

This rich and delicious soup is chock full of veggies! The recipe is from an old, yellowed, well-worn newspaper clipping we found when cleaning out one of my mom's kitchen cabinets.

• Total Time: 2 hrs
• Prep Time: 15 mins
• Cook Time: 1 hrs 45 mins

Ingredients:

Servings: 4

• 1 large onion
• 1 medium eggplant
• 2 carrots
• 6 medium tomatoes
• 2 garlic cloves
• 3 medium zucchini
• 2 stalks celery
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 lb ground beef
• 4 cups beef stock
• 1 teaspoon basil
• 1 teaspoon oregano
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup elbow macaroni
• ground black pepper, to taste
• parmesan cheese, to taste

Directions:

1. Peel and dice the onion, eggplant, carrots, and tomatoes. Peel and mince the garlic. Dice the zucchini and celery.
2. Heat the oil in a large soup kettle. Add the onions and garlic and saute until tender.
3. Add ground beef and cook until no longer pink. Add the eggplant and saute 3 minutes, stirring.
4. Add the carrots, tomatoes, zucchini, celery, stock, basil, oregano, and salt. Stir well. Simmer, uncovered, 1 1/2 hours.
5. Add the macaroni and cook 15 minutes more. Add pepper to taste. Serve topped with Parmesan cheese.

Reviews

[Peter J]

Yum, a really healthy and substantional soup with great flavors. The only change I made was to not peel the eggplant and zucchini because I quite enjoy the skin in soups and in all the excitement forgot to add parmesan when serving. I always love soups like these that are a meal in themselves.

[Boomette]

The taste is really good. But mine turned out like a stew. I followed the recipe except that I omitted the carrots and salt. I don't know what happened. I had the good amount of liquid. Maybe it was simmering too long. I really should have added more stock. If I do it again, I won't change the ingredients, just add more stock. The flavor is perfect. And so healthy. Thanks loof :) Made for PRMR tag game

[Leah's Kitchen]

I love this soup! It is just full of vegetables and yet has such a full flavor. I didn't have any beef stock to add so I just used water. It was a good soup for lunch and would go very well with ciabatta which I am planning to serve with it next time. I did forget to put the pasta in it and so when I heated up the leftovers the next day I added some cooked pasta. Either way it we enjoyed it. Thanks for posting this recipe! Made for Ramadan Tag 2010