• 4 cloves garlic
• 1 small onion
• 1/4 cup basil and parsley, combined
• 1 can crushed tomatoes
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 5 carrots, chopped in small pieces
• 4 potatoes, diced
• 4 stalks celery, sliced in small pieces
• 1/2 pound tubetti pasta
• 1/2  cup Parmesan cheese
• extra parsley for garnish
• 1 lemon, optional

Take the garlic and onion and chop them in a food processor.  Place the basil, parsley, and crushed tomatoes and put into a blender and blend for a minute.  Use a deep Teflon frying pan and pour the olive oil into the pan.  On a medium high fire, add the garlic and onion to the hot oil and saute for around 2 minutes.  Add the chopped vegetables and let them saute for five minutes. Take the blender with the tomatoes and pour into the pan.  Simmer for around 20 minutes.

In a separate pot, cook the tubetti in boiling salted water until al dente.   Drain but leave the tubetti with some of the pasta water in the pot.

Mix the tubetti with the pasta water into the frying pan of vegetables.  Let the two cook for around 10 minutes.

Serve in bowls sprinkled with Parmesan cheese and freshly cut parsley.

Notes from Kathy: If you add more of the pasta water it is a very thick soup.  However the Italians love a thick minestrone (much different from the Progresso variety).  The salt in the pasta water is added at the end.  Also, Sal takes a lemon and squeezes it into the mix to give it a special flavor.