Aug 15th, 2010
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Slow Cooker Minestrone

Fresh carrots, tomatoes and zucchinis combined with beans, rosemary, basil and parmesan create a hearty soup full of rich flavours. The leftovers are perfect for a hot lunch too, especially if your workplace is kept as cold as the inside of your fridge.

In my summer lemon chicken post I told you about my parents giving us zucchini from their garden — this weekend we got even more from them, and three massive ones from my brother’s garden! Please let me know about your favourite zucchini recipes, I really don’t want them to go to waste.

Giant Zucchini

I have one recipe in the queue from Jenn. She shared a spicy Ethiopian dish that I will likely adapt to the crock-pot. First I will share my version of slow cooker minestrone.

To make my minestrone more satisfying, I added white navy beans but otherwise my slow cooker minestrone tastes just like the kind my mom used to make. All I was missing were the pretty, orange zucchini blossoms that she often stirred into the soup for that extra special touch.

I’ve submitted this recipe to Souper Sunday. Visit Deb’s blog to see this weeks submissions and click on the badge below to find out how you can participate.

SouperSundays

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Slow Cooker Minestrone

Prep: 20 minutes
Cook: 6 hours (low) or 3 hours (high)
Yield: 6-8 servings (prepared in a 6.5 quart slow cooker)

  • 1 cup dry white navy beans (or a 14 oz can)
  • 1 1⁄2 tbsp salt
  • 8 cups cold water
  • 2 tbsp butter
  • 1 1⁄2 cups peeled, sliced (½-inch thick) carrots
  • 1 1⁄2 cups thinly sliced onion
  • 3 cups sliced (½-inch thick) zucchini
  • 2 cups quartered Roma tomatoes (if they're large, cut each into 8 pieces)
  • 4 cloves minced garlic
  •  1⁄4 tsp red pepper flakes
  • 3 sprigs minced rosemary leaves
  • 1 tbsp minced sage leaves
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 5 cups water
  • 4 cups chicken stock (or vegetable broth)
  • 2 tsp salt
  • 2 tbsp finely chopped basil
  •  1⁄4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

To prepare the dry navy beans, dissolve 1½ tablespoons of salt in 8 cups of cold water added the beans and allow to soak overnight. Rinse the beans and drain. To be safe, boil the beans for 10 minutes to inactivate the phytohaemagglutinin. Pour them into your slow cooker insert.

Melt a tablespoon of butter over medium-high heat, brown the carrots, onion, zucchini. Transfer to your slow cooker insert. (Use the remaining tbsp of butter as needed to brown the vegetables.)

Add the garlic and red pepper flakes to the pan. Once the garlic becomes fragrant (about 2 minutes), stir in the tomatoes, rosemary, sage and bay leaves. Add 2 cups of water and Let simmer for about 5 minutes and transfer to the slow cooker insert.

Add the stock and 5 cups of water.

Cook on low for 6 hours (or high for 3 hours).

Remove the bay leaves.

Stir in the salt and basil. Ladle into bowls and sprinkle with parmesan to serve.