Everyone seems to love minestrone soup, maybe because it’s such a celebration of vegetables in one bowl. In this recipe, the meaty flavor from the sausages really enhances the tomato-flavored stock. To keep the flavors balanced, I always use a combination of hot and sweet Italian sausages. If you have access to a butcher who makes the sausages in-house, your soup will taste even better. The addition of the orzo pasta near the end of the cooking time keeps it from swelling too much in the soup.

Ingredients:

1 pound sweet Italian sausage
1 pound hot Italian sausage
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 large Spanish onion, peeled and diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 ribs celery, sliced
5 carrots, peeled and sliced
1 can (28 ounces) whole tomatoes, cut into pieces
12 cups chicken stock, plus additional as needed
4 cups tomato juice
2 bay leaves
1 can (16 ounces) chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1 can (16 ounces) dark red kidney beans, drained and rinsed
1 can (16 ounces) cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
1 large zucchini, diced
1 large summer squash, diced
1/2 cup dried orzo
3 tablespoons chopped fresh basil
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line a baking sheet or a roasting pan with parchment paper or foil. Place the sausages on the pan and bake for 25 minutes. Let cool on a plate lined with paper towels. Cut into 1/4 to 1/2- inch slices.

Heat a stockpot over medium-high heat. Add the olive oil, onion, garlic, celery, and carrots. Sauté for 8 minutes. Add the tomatoes, stock, tomato juice, bay leaves, chickpeas, kidney beans, cannellini beans, and cooked sausage slices. Bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium, cover the pot, and simmer for 40 minutes, adding more stock or water if too much liquid evaporates. Remove and discard the bay leaves. Add the zucchini, summer squash, and orzo. Cook for an additional 10 minutes. Stir in the basil, salt, and pepper.

Makes 10 to 12 servings. It’s important to cook the sausage separately so that you can drain a lot of its excess fat before you mix it into the soup.