Swiss Chard and Chickpea Minestrone
- Total Time
- 45 minutes
- Rating
- Comments
- Read comments
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Ingredients
- 2tablespoons olive oil
- 1medium onion, chopped
- 2medium carrots, cut in small dice
- 1celery stalk, cut in small dice
- 1leek, white and light green parts only, halved lengthwise, cleaned thoroughly and sliced thin
- Salt
- 4large garlic cloves, minced
- 7cups water
- 2tablespoons tomato paste
- A bouquet garni consisting of 1 Parmesan rind, 1 bay leaf, 3 sprigs parsley and 3 sprigs thyme, tied together with kitchen string or tied into a piece of cheesecloth
- 1(15-ounce) can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
- ½pound Swiss chard, stemmed, leaves washed and cut crosswise in thin strips (chiffonade) (4 cups, tightly packed, chiffonade)
- ½cup soup pasta, like elbow macaroni or broken spaghetti
- Freshly ground pepper to taste
- Freshly grated Parmesan
Nutritional analysis per serving (8 servings)
163 calories; 5 grams fat; 1 gram saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 3 grams monounsaturated fat; 1 gram polyunsaturated fat; 25 grams carbohydrates; 6 grams dietary fiber; 5 grams sugars; 6 grams protein; 818 milligrams sodium
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
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Preparation
- Step 1
Heat the olive oil over medium-low heat in a large, heavy soup pot or Dutch oven. Add the onion, carrots and celery. Cook, stirring, until beginning to soften, about three minutes. Add ½ teaspoon salt and the leek. Continue to cook, stirring often, until tender, about three minutes. Add the garlic, stir for about a minute, and then stir in the water, tomato paste and the bouquet garni. Bring to a simmer. Add salt to taste, reduce the heat to low, cover and simmer 30 minutes. Stir in the chickpeas. Taste and adjust salt. Remove the bouquet garni.
- Step 2
Add the Swiss chard and the pasta to the soup, bring back to a simmer, and simmer another 10 minutes or until the pasta is cooked al dente. Grind in some pepper, taste and adjust seasonings. It should be savory and rich-tasting. Serve in wide soup bowls, with a sprinkling of Parmesan over the top.
- Advance preparation: You can make this through Step 1 several days ahead and keep in the refrigerator or freeze. The closer to serving time you add the chard, the brighter it will be.
Private Notes
Comments
This soup is delicious and wonderfully simple. There's a lot of room to play with it on future preparations.
For added flavor, cook the chickpeas yourself with some onion, garlic, and bay leaf and add the delicious bean broth in place of some of the water.
this is so incredibly delicious...and feels like you're eating health and vitamins with every mouthful! I used homemade chicken broth (made from an organic roast bird cooked earlier in the week), cavolo nero instead of swiss chard, and orzo instead of macaroni. Taste #5 Bomba tomato paste makes a difference, too- gave the minestrone a deeply savoury umami lift along with the parmesan at the end.
3 ounces thinly sliced pancetta, coarsely chopped. Cook with onions, carrots, and celery. 1 small can tomato sauce 2 large cans chicken soup broth to replace water. 1 russet potato, peeled and cubed. Add when add chickpeas.
This soup is fabulous. I took others’ advice and quadrupled the tomato paste, and am glad I did. Every mouthful bursts with flavor. I am lucky to have oodles of Swiss Chard growing in my back yard. This was the perfect recipe to use some of it up.
Easy and soul-satisfying for a rainy and cold May afternoon, and a good use of farmers market vegetables. My husband and I had it for lunch and dinner, finishing it off by end of evening. Husband says that it was even better by dinnertime, broth seemed richer. I did add half a teaspoon of Better Than Boullion vegetable broth, but i think will skip that next time; I prefer the pure taste of the cooked vegetables.
I agree with some of the reviews with regards to the soup missing something, The soup was lacking depth due to just calling for water. I added Better than Bouillon (I had vegetable and chicken Bouillon open in the fridge so used up the veggie one and added the chicken to finish up the proper amount). This was a game changer. I also used great white northern beans as we like the texture better for a minestrone soup. The soup was very good!
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