June 26: My Mom's 15-Minute Tomato and Bean Stoup

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
3 garlic cloves, chopped
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1 medium onion, chopped
2 carrots, peeled and thinly sliced
2 celery ribs, chopped
1 small zucchini, sliced
2 cups vegetable or chicken stock or broth
1 15-ounce can diced tomatoes
1 15-ounce can tomato sauce
1 10-ounce box frozen cut green beans
1 10-ounce box frozen cut yellow beans
   Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 cup fresh basil leaves, torn or shredded
   Grated Parmesan cheese, to pass at the table
   Crusty bread

Add the EVOO to a soup pot over medium-high heat. Add the garlic and crushed red pepper flakes, stir, then add the onions, carrots, celery, and zucchini.

Cook for 10 minutes, then add the stock, tomatoes, tomato sauce, and beans.

Bring the stoup up to a bubble and season with salt and pepper. Simmer for 5 minutes. Turn off the heat and wilt the basil into the stoup.

Ladle up the stoup and serve with the grated cheese and the crusty bread.

4 SERVINGS

When I went to the freezer section to buy frozen green and yellow beans, the only yellow beans I could find were in a package with green beans and baby carrots. So I just used those carrots instead of the sliced ones. I think this would have been better had I been able to follow the recipe. And my basil went bad, so I had to use dried basil.

RR said, "One rainy day I called my mom from the road. I was getting a cold and I really wanted soup for supper. She said she didn't know what she had on hand, but she'd come up with something. This was it. (And you don't have to be sick to enjoy it.)"