​Ah, the sweetness…and then some more soup.

​The result is so savory that there’s no need for broth, water, canned tomatoes, and a parmesan rind work beautifully. And because this soup must cook slowly, don’t worry about prepping all your vegetables before you begin—you can simply chop as you go.

• 1/3 lb sliced pancetta, chopped
• 3 medium red onions, chopped
• 4 celery ribs, chopped
• 2 medium carrots, chopped
• 1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 bunch Swiss chard
• 6 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• 1 (28-oz) can whole tomatoes in juice
• 1 qt hot water
• 5 cups coarsely chopped cored Savoy cabbage (6 oz)
• 5 cups coarsely chopped escarole (1/2 lb)
• 1 piece Parmigiano-Reggiano rind (about 3 by 1 1/2 inches)
• 1 (19-oz) can cannellini beans, rinsed and drained
• extra-virgin olive oil for drizzling; cooked ditalini pasta tossed with oil (optional); grated Parmigiano-Reggiano
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1. ​Cook pancetta, onions, celery, and carrots in oil in a wide 7- to 9-qt heavy pot over medium heat, stirring occasionally, while preparing chard.
2. Cut out stems from chard and chop stems, reserving leaves. Stir chard stems into pancetta mixture with garlic, 1 tsp salt, and 3/4 tsp pepper and continue cooking, stirring occasionally, until vegetables are very tender and begin to stick to bottom of pot, about 45 minutes total. (Set aside chard leaves.)
3. Push vegetables to one side of pot. Add tomato paste to cleared area and cook, stirring constantly, until it starts to caramelize, about 2 minutes. Stir paste into vegetables and cook, stirring, 2 minutes. (Paste may stick to pot, but don’t let it burn.)
4. Stir in tomatoes with their juice, breaking them up with a spoon, then add hot water (3 qt), scraping up any brown bits from bottom of pot.
5. Bring to a simmer. Stir in cabbage, escarole, and parmesan rind. Simmer, covered, until greens are tender, about 40 minutes.
6. Coarsely chop chard leaves and stir into soup along with beans. Simmer, partially covered, 10 minutes. Discard rind. Season soup with salt and pepper. If using ditalini, stir in just before serving.
7. Full disclosure: I have never been hot on minestrone, not loving the “beany” taste. After consulting with experienced cook Lizette, I see that her version with garbanzo beans would be brighter. I especially like the added mushrooms, corn, and green beans; I’d even venture that a  little zucchini would be nice, as well.
8. Per Lizette: I don’t use the chard, I’ll use regular green cabbage, I often omit the pancetta/bacon (though it’s tasty), I use one giant yellow onion, I add a couple diced yellow potatoes and I prefer garbanzo beans to cannellini beans. kind of a different recipe by now, ha! And I’ll add diced mushrooms if I have them, or fresh corn, or green beans.

Thank you, Lizette, for the tips. With your advice, I might actually come to enjoy minestrone!

​Choose Costco or Trader Joe’s frozen mini wonton. Word to the wise, neither brand tastes anything like cilantro or even chicken, really. They taste like yummy pork pot stickers which is what you want them to taste like. Heat up chicken stock in a medium saucepan. Add however many wontons you’d like, and heat for about 5 minutes. Add a handful of sliced green onions & a few handfuls of coleslaw mix. Heat longer to wilt the veggies or serve immediately, if you like your veggies crunchy. See below for your visual shopping list:

​To serve: ladle hot soup into a big pretty bowl and pass the sesame oil, soy sauce, rice vinegar, torn cilantro, and or sriracha to taste. Yum!

​​Another soup with fun garnishes is my Dad’s simplified pozole recipe. Borrowing the method from old-school chili, you soak dried, deseeded chilies in hot water before pureeing them in a blender or food processor with garlic and roughly chopped onion. The resulting red paste is a super flavor secret weapon which flavors the broth and pork. When I make this posole, I usually use a bit of pork shoulder or pork spareribs, as Dad suggests. I don’t know about you, but I am not messing around with pork neck bones, thank you, no.

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​Recipe annotated by cooking teacher, Kristin, above. I completely agree with the cilantro, lime, and corn chips to accompany the chili and why not make a double batch?