Wisconsin Minestrone Soup

Wisconsin Minestrone Soup

How often do you make soup during the summer? I don’t make soup as often as I should. As much as I love soup, finding a few hours to simmer soup on the stove isn’t easy. 

This fast, easy to prepare soup is perfect for simmering while you get the grill ready.  With a few short cuts, it can be made in an hour, and during that time, you can prepare the rest of your meal. If you do not have chicken stock already made, you can use store bought chicken broth. It will work just fine. 

Minestrone is a humble “working man’s” Italian soup consisting of vegetables, beans and pasta. Sometimes it has meat and sometimes it doesn’t. It is said that the Roman army often ate minestrone soup when taking a break from raping, pillaging and other manly pursuits.

Why is this called Wisconsin Minestrone? Well, I know this is a Wisconsin soup even though I have never seen it served anywhere in the state. How can I be so sure? The main reason, is that it uses the official state food of Wisconsin, the bratwurst. 

Those folks serve bratwurst for just about every occasion. For them, the bratwurst is it’s own food group (as are pickled eggs and cheese, but that is an issue for another day). They may not have thought of this soup yet, but the bratwurst ensures that they will like it. If you mention it at a Wisconsin supper club on Friday night, you will probably see it on the menu Saturday night.

2 slices of thick bacon, chopped

2 uncooked bratwursts

1 large onion, chopped

2 stalk of celery, chopped

1 dried arbol pepper, chopped

1 cups of chopped cabbage

1 large clove of garlic

1 can of RoTel 

1-1/2 quarts of chicken broth

1 can of white or red kidney beans

1 bay leaf

1 tsp. of oregano

Cajun seasoning

1/4 lb. of spaghetti noodles, broken up

Preparation

Heat a large skillet over medium heat and add the bacon. When the bacon starts to brown, add the brats and break them up. Sprinkle with Cajun seasoning and stir until the brats loose their pink color. Add the onion, celery and arbol pepper. Cover and let cook for around ten minutes, stirring often.

Add the garlic, oregano, bay leaf and chopped cabbage and cover for another five minutes. Add the RoTel tomatoes and the chicken broth. Cover and bring the soup to a boil. Add the beans and let the soup simmer for thirty minutes. 

Add the pasta and taste for salt and pepper. If you have one, add the rind of a good parmesan cheese to the soup. There is something about Wisconsin and cheese. They just go together. Simmer another ten to fifteen minutes and you’ve got soup!

Serving

Serve this soup as a first course of a dinner consisting of steaks grilled medium rare, potatoes baked on a charcoal grill, grilled beet slices brushed with olive oil, garlic bread and a crisp salad. 

To wash all of that down, I’d recommend a good spicy Zinfandel. A dinner like that will make any cheesehead happy, eh.