Minestrone with Farro & Chia Pesto

This delicious and hearty soup is loaded with protein-rich farro, chickpeas, carrots, celery, and kale. So much good stuff in one bowl! This soup is from Julie Morris's book, Superfood Soups, in which each soup is loaded with superfoods. This one in particular uses miso, kelp, goji berries, and a pesto made with chia seeds. As funky as that all sounds, it ultimately results in a fantastic soup and the chia pesto is worth the time to make--trust me. Enjoy!

Minestrone with Farro & Chia Pesto
Serves 6

Ingredients

• 1 large tomato, chopped
• 1/4 cup dried goji berries
• 1 tsp kelp granules
• 8 cups Miso Broth
• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 onion, chopped small
• 2 carrots, cut into thin half moons
• 2 stalks celery, chopped small
• 3/4 cup farro
• 1 medium zucchini, chopped small
• 2 large cloves garlic, minced
• 1 Tbsp chopped fresh thyme
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 cup canned diced tomatoes with juice
• 1 tsp ground black pepper
• 1.5-cups cooked garbanzo beans (1 15-ounce can, drained)
• 1/2 lb broccoli florets, chopped small (about 3 cups)
• 3 big leaves kale, ribbed and chopped small
• Sea salt
• 1 batch Chia Pesto

Instructions

In a blender, combine the tomato, goji berries, and kelp granules with 1/2 cup of broth. Blend until smooth.

Warm the oil in a large heavy-bottomed pot over medium heat. Add the onion, carrots, celery, and farro, and cook, stirring often, for 6-7 minutes, or until the vegetables are softened. Add the zucchini, garlic, thyme, and bay leaf, and cook for 2 minutes longer, stirring constantly. Stir in the blended tomato mixture, the remaining 7.5-cups of broth, the canned tomatoes with their juice, and the black pepper. Bring to a boil over high heat, then partially cover, leaving the lid a little ajar, and reduce the heat to medium-low. Simmer for 20 minutes.

Turn up the heat to medium, stir in the garbanzo beans and broccoli, and cook, uncovered, for 10 minutes. Remove the mixture from the heat, and mix in the kale. Let the soup stand for 5-10 minutes to let the kale fully wilt. Remove the bay leaf, taste, add salt as desired. To serve, ladle the soup into bowls and swirl in a tablespoon or two of chia pesto on top.