Who says a minestrone has to be a boring and sad dish? Check out this simple yet rich in flavour penne kidney beans minestrone. Nutritious beans, smoked meat and penne make a complete meal. With minimal effort, you’ll have a perfect lunch or a busy weeknight dinner to enjoy on any autumn or winter day.
Minestrone is typically a vegetable soup. Most of the times legumes, such as peas or beans make it really rich in proteins and fibres and nutritious. Sometimes a delicious piece of dried or semi-dried meat is cooked together with the soup, just to add more flavour. And of course, pasta makes it even more special.
Penne kidney beans minestrone brings my childhood memories back. Pasta in minestrone? Yes. In fact, my mother always added pasta to minestrone and I really liked that. It’s somehow stuck in my head like a delicious memory. Wink. Pasta makes this dish a really filling meal, which will keep your hunger away for plenty of hours.
Kidney beans, prosciutto and pasta
As you can imagine, I added all three key ingredients to make this minestrone incredibly tasty: kidney beans, prosciutto and pasta. I love the dark brown-red colour and the creaminess. Baked beans would be great, too. Regarding pasta, I used the popular penne. However, you can use any pasta you like most; spaghetti, tagliatelle, tortellini, strozzapreti, tagliolini and so on.
Having said that, you can swap the pasta with quinoa, bulgur, lentils or barley. They all make a great combo with vegetables and meat. Also, they make your soup thicker and more hearty. Consequently, they are perfect for minestrone. For instance, check this delicious Slovenian barley soup jecmenka.
I love a smoky flavour. Therefore, I used some smoked prosciutto. In order to reduce the cooking time, I cut it into 4 pieces. Also, I cut off the hard skin, leather part. Some parts might have that, some not. Anyway, just cut it off as it’s impossible to chew. Wink.
I make soup all year round because I love soup. It’s simply a great delicious meal. And so is this dish. This minestrone recipe is a real comfort and hearty food and therefore not ideal for a losing weight diet. Wink. Moreover, this minestrone is incredibly good also on the next day.
In addition, if you fancy some other soup, you are more than welcome to check out some of my favourite soup recipes: healthy carrot ginger soup, colourful red cabbage soup, another healthy avocado Savoy cabbage soup, creamy roasted cauliflower pear soup, stunning beef Pho, light avocado yoghurt soup, delicious beetroot raspberry soup, a rustic bean and sour turnips soup called Jota, classic soup with spicy meatballs or tasty cauliflower-leek coconut soup.
Ingredients for 4 portions of penne kidney beans minestrone:
- 200 g smoked prosciutto (whole, cut into 4 pieces)
- 1 red onion (sliced)
- 2 garlic cloves (sliced)
- 2 carrots (cut into cubes)
- 200-250 ml whole peeled tomatoes (pelati or any other tomatoes from a can)
- 400 g kidney beans (or baked beans)
- 700-800 ml warm water
- salt and pepper
- 150-200 g whole grain pasta
In order to give that lovely smoky flavour to the whole dish, start with adding the prosciutto to the pot. Once it starts to brown, drizzle some olive oil and add the sliced onions, garlic and carrots.
Then, stir for a couple of minutes and pour in the tomatoes. I used whole peeled tomatoes, so-called pelati. If you use those, roughly smash them with a wooden spoon, once in the pot. But you can use also diced or pureed tomatoes.
Finally, add healthy kidney beans and warm water. Give it another stir, season and bring to boil. When it starts boiling, reduce the heat to medium-low, cover with a lid and cook for about 1 hour or until the prosciutto gets tender. Last but not least, add the pasta and cook for about 7 minutes or until “al dente”.
Finally, serve the penne kidney beans minestrone either as a small starter or as a main dish. I love it as a main meal on a cold day. Combine vegetables you like and make the minestrone taste wonderful. Also, skip the smoked prosciutto if you want a vegetarian or vegan dish and serve some lovely breadsticks with it instead.
Enjoy!
PS
If you like the recipe, if you make the recipe or if you have any new ideas how to improve or change it, let me know in the comments section below or alternatively share your photos and reactions with me on Instagram (@Passionspoon), Facebook or Twitter (@PassionSpoon1). Simply use the hashtag #passionspoonrecipes in your posts. I would love to see them! (wink)
