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After a week of roaming around New York City eating pasta at Eataly, pastrami at Pastrami Queen and sneaking off to Ironbound, a neighborhood within Newark, New Jersey, dining at Fornos Spanish Cuisine for garlic pork chops, it was time to lighten things up a bit.

With the cooler weather, my first thought was a hearty minestrone.

2 tablespoons olive oil
3 medium carrots, peeled and diced
2 celery stalks, diced
1 small sweet onion, diced
1 small leek, cleaned and chopped
1 small zucchini, seeded and diced
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1-14oz can of fire roasted diced tomatoes
2- 32 Containers of reduced sodium chicken stock or vegetable stock
1-1/2 cups of string beans, cleaned and cut into 1 inch pieces
2-15oz cans of cannellini beans, rinsed
6 oz precooked pasta, ditalini, small shells, or small cavatelli
Parmesan cheese, grated and sprinkled over the soup (optional)

Add olive oil, carrots, celery, onion, leeks, zucchini, salt and pepper into an 8 quart stock pot. Sweat down the vegetables for 10-12 minutes. Add the tomato paste and cook down for another 3 minutes, stirring constantly. Add the tomatoes and chicken or vegetable stock along with the cannellini beans and green beans. Cook on medium-low heat for 45 minutes or until the vegetables are fork tender. Add the desired amount of pasta to each dish. Serves 8-10

If you’re interested in the restaurants around Newark, check out this site: goironbound.com.

Visit Dorothy’s website at http://ddimarzo2002.wix.com/thymethief.