Not Your Typical Minestrone Soup

I guess technically any soup that contains beans, vegetables, and noodles can be called Minestrone, right?  At least that is what a recent article in the Wall Street Journal said.  I have always thought of Minestrone as having a clear tomato broth with green beans, kidney beans, a few other common vegetables, macaroni noodles and some parmesan cheese sprinkled on top.  But the following soup can be called "Minestrone" because it has those three basic elements: beans, veggies, and starch.  I could just keep inventing new "Clarion River Organics Minestrone soups" every week depending upon what CRO sends us, but then that would get confusing!   I am fairly certain you can't mess this up.  Just use what you still have in your fridge from CRO, throw in some beans and a starch and call it "Clarion River Minestrone Soup"!

Clarion River Minestrone Soup with Rosemary Pesto
1 yellow onion, chopped
4 cloves of garlic, minced plus 2 whole cloves
3 stalks celery
1/2 of a large Clarion River Organics rutabaga, peeled and diced
6 cups vegetable broth
2 bay leaves
1 can (15-oz) white beans, rinsed and drained
1 1/2 cup lentils, rinsed and drained
3 cups Clarion River Organics chopped cabbage (about 1/3 of the head)
1 small apple, peeled and diced OR 1/2 cup apple cider
1/4 pound dry spaghetti, broken into thirds
Salt and Pepper to taste
For the Rosemary Pesto:
1 cup kale, chard or other leafy green (the Clarion River Organics bok choi greens would work well)
1/2 cup toasted pecans, chopped
1/4 cup rosemary sprigs
2 Tbsp olive oil

Spray a large cooking pot with cooking oil and place over medium heat.  Add onions and minced garlic and cook, stirring occasionally, until onions are soft and just beginning to brown, about 8 minutes.  Add a little water to the pot as necessary to keep onions from sticking and burning.  

Stir in celery, rutabaga and cook another 5 minutes.  Add 4 cups vegetable broth, bay leaves, white beans, lentils, cabbage, and apples or apple cider.  Stir to combine.  Bring to a simmer and then reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and cook until lentils are tender, about 30 minutes.  Add the additional 2 cups of broth as needed to keep enough liquid to make this a soup and not a porridge!  Season with salt and pepper to taste.  

Add the dry spaghetti and continue to simmer about 10 more minutes.  Make the rosemary pesto: in a food processor, puree greens, pecans, whole garlic cloves, a pinch of salt and oil until mixture is reduced to a paste.  

To serve, ladle soup into bowls.  Place 1 or 2 dollops of pesto on top of each bowl.  Serves 6.