This gets 4 stars as in and 5 with my minor adjustments. Instead of using butter and ham, do the following: start by cooking up a 1/2 lb of bacon in the soup pan. Remove bacon when done and proceed with the original recipe, cooking the onion/garlic in the bacon grease instead of butter. Crumble up the bacon and when the soup is done, add it back in. It makes an exceptional, restaurant quality soup. I also added a tsp of coriander, a tsp of cumin and a tsp of cayenne as others suggested.

Reviewed On: Nov. 1, 2009

This really doesn't need more reviews, but I will say that you can kick this phenomenal recipe up even higher by making your own pesto, which is ridiculously easy, and let's face it, there's nothing better than fresh and homemade. Also, if you use a really quality parmesan, you can truly taste the difference. The only thing I did differently was to add a couple of chopped tomatoes at the end right before tossing with pasta. It doesn't get better, or easier, than this.

Reviewed On: Oct. 28, 2009

Heaven. All I do to finish it off is toast some french bread, put the meat and cheese on and broil in the oven until melted. Pretty much the best sandwich on the planet.

Reviewed On: Sep. 17, 2009