Bowtie Vegetable Pasta
A healthy vegetable soup that's flavor-enhanced with a generous helping of herbaceous basil pesto.
Servings 6
Calories 310kcal
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 small onion, diced
- 1 carrot, grated
- 2 ribs celery, diced
- 1 small red bell pepper, diced
- 2 cups of other diced vegetables (see suggestions in Notes)
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste
- 1 teaspoon dried Italian herb blend
- 4 cups vegetable broth
- 15 ounces diced tomatoes
- 8 ounces mini bowtie pasta (about half of a 1 pound box)
- kosher salt
- 1/4 cup basil pesto (plus extra for serving)
Instructions
- Heat the oil in a 4 to 5 quart Dutch oven or soup pot over medium heat, until the oil shimmers. Add the onions, carrots, celery, and red bell pepper, until the vegetables are soft (about 8 minutes). Add the tomato pasta, dried herbs, and a splash of broth, and incorporate the tomato paste into the aromatics.
- Add the remaining broth and tomatoes to the pot, and increase heat to bring the soup to a light boil. Add the other diced vegetables, a big pinch of salt, and adjust the heat to maintain an active simmer while you cook the pasta.
- In a medium pot, prepare the pasta according to package directions. Drain, and add to the soup.
- Before serving, stir the basil pesto into the soup. Taste and add more salt or pesto to suit.
- Optional: bring an extra bowl of pesto to the table so your guests can add more pesto directly to their bowls.
Notes
Why grate the carrot? Carrots take a looong time to cook, and breaking them down into grates will help them soften and cook faster, so that you don't have to cook the other veggies to death.
This soup is great to use up vegetables that about to give up the ghost in your fridge. Just about any vegetable goes great into this soup. Here's what I used for the photos in this post: Red onions, Celery, Carrots, Bell peppers (green, yellow, red), Purple potatoes, Broccoli, Frozen corn, Frozen edamame, Tomatoes.
Nutrition
Calories: 310kcal