minestrone-mania

I've made some variety of minestrone every weekend for the last month.  I felt like last week's instantiation of winter minestrone was about perfection (since I added about 2 lbs of meat to the original recipe, essentially transforming it from a soup into more of a ragu).  This weekend, I decided to try the spring varietal, since it was in the buzz box on epicurious.

What's been surprising about this minestrone binge is the depth of flavor that can actually be achieved with just stock and lots of vegetables.  Very different from the horrid, flavorless restaurant minestrone of my youth.  And because it's just vegetables and stock (ok, so not my 2 lbs of meat ragu), it's super healthful!

The spring varietal starts out with miniature ground chicken, parmesan, garlic, and chive meatballs:

Final product:

The meatballs have astonishing flavor.  Top this off with basil and some more parmigiano, and woah!  Look out tastebuds!  For only 537 calories per bowl.