I've been making this recipe for years now and I'm surprised I've not yet blogged it. I put 'classic' in quotes because while that's technically the name of the online recipe, I don't think that it is actually all that traditional (but what do I know?). I have used this many a time when bringing a meal for new parents, a sick friend, or other meal drop-off situations (often with a loaf of no-knead bread and salad supplies).
I've made slight variations in the recipe, mostly depending on what I have laying around and/or the audience, but I always use the pesto (mostly/often jarred to make it easy and in the winter I rarely have fresh), and the Parmesan rind is what I think makes the dish.
Celia and Mike went skiing this morning and she had requested vegetable soup so I made a 1/2 batch of this while they were gone (easy to cut in half, just using a full can of beans). I also added cabbage in lieu of spinach or other greens (what I had readily available), and added some broccoli. Additionally, I cooked up a batch of alphabet pasta on the side and added about a 1/3 cup when serving it up for Celia.
Note that this full recipe does make a HUGE batch. In fact, when giving to a friend I've often portioned off half of the full batch for my own family and given away the remainder (plenty to feed a family of 4+). The full batch will fill my Le Creuset Dutch oven right to the brim so if I'm not giving it away it is too much for us (even eating leftovers for several days...).
This one is definitely a tried and true go-to soup for me!
