We recently took an awesome trip to Central Oregon and visited the beautiful High Desert Museum. We stopped for a bite to eat in their café and I discovered an unusual minestrone soup that I really enjoyed. The flavor of the soup was really unique as it contained asparagus, artichoke hearts, and garbanzo beans along with other vegetables.

Today’s recipe is similar but even better in my opinion because I use fresh vegetables instead of canned. Minestrone is an Italian vegetable soup that can take a variety of forms but generally has pasta, beans, onions, celery, tomatoes and a broth of some nature. It may have meat or no meat.

I am making my version with no meat and no pasta. It has lots of hearty veggies like onions, carrots, celery, artichoke hearts, asparagus, peas, and garbanzo beans. What gives my minestrone a unique flavor is marinated artichoke hearts, juice from the artichokes, asparagus, and garbanzo beans. This packs a lot of rich flavor!

You can of course change up the vegetables depending on the season but I would recommend trying what I used here. This particular combination of herbs and vegetables pares really well together. This is a super-delicious way to get lots of vegetables in your diet.

I hope you try this soup and let me know your thoughts. I always like reading your feedback!

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup canola oil
• 1 cup yellow onion, medium diced
• 1 cup carrots, medium diced
• 1 cup celery, med. diced
• 1 tbsp. minced garlic
• 2 dried bay leaves
• 2 tbsp. roasted garlic base
• 1 tbsp. dried basil
• 2 tsp. dried oregano
• 2 tsp. dried parsley
• 1 tsp. chili flakes (less depending on the preference)
• 1/2 tsp. black pepper powder
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1.5 cup green zucchini, medium diced
• 1 14.5 oz. can diced tomatoes
• 1 15.5 oz. can garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed well
• 1/2 cup marinated artichoke hearts, torn into pieces
• 3/4 cup liquids from the artichoke jar
• 4 cups water
• 1/2 cup asparagus, cut into 1/3-inch rounds
• 1 cup frozen peas

Instructions

Heat oil in a large soup pot over medium-high heat. Add onion, carrots, and celery. Cook for 5 minutes, stirring in between. Add garlic and cook for another minute. Turn down the heat to medium-low, then add all the spices including salt and garlic base. Stir all the ingredients well, cooking for another minute.

Add tomatoes, stir, then cook for 2 minutes.

Add zucchini, garbanzo beans, artichoke, liquids from the artichoke, and water. Stir well, turn up the heat to medium-high, bring to a boil, then cover and cook for 7 minutes.

Next, add the asparagus and cook for 2 minutes covered. Add peas and stir well, cook for another 2 minutes or until vegetable are cooked to your liking, covered.

Turn off the heat and taste for seasoning. Serve and enjoy!

Serves 6

Did you make this dish? I’d love to know how it turns out! Feel free to like this post and comment or use the hashtag #globaldinein on Instagram. If you would to be notified of upcoming posts, please consider subscribing to my blog!