Minestrone

Warm up with minestrone. A hearty minestrone is a meal in itself. It is the perfect soup for any vegetables in your crisper – cauliflower, cabbage, spinach can easily find a home along with any winter root vegetables. We pre-cook the pasta so that it doesn’t soak up all the liquid from the soup.

MINESTRONE

Prep time: 20 mins
Cook time: Up to 2 hours
Serves: 4

Ingredients

• 40ml / 2 tbsp of olive oil
• 1 brown onion, finely diced
• 1 stick of celery, finely diced
• 2 carrots, peeled & finely diced
• 1 zucchini, finely diced
• 1 potato, peeled and diced (chunky cut)
• 1 clove of garlic, grated or crushed
• 1 sprig of flat leaf parsley, finely chopped
• 1 litre of smoked stock (made with bacon bones) or vegetable or chicken stock
• 1 bay leaf
• a piece of parmesan rind
• 400g of tinned diced tomatoes
• 400g of tinned cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
• ¼ cup macaroni, cooked to the packet instructions
• 4 tbsp grated parmesan cheese

Method

1. Heat oil in a large pot, add the onions and cook on a low heat for 10 minutes.
2. Add the celery, carrot, zucchini, potato, garlic and parsley continue to cook for 20 minutes, stirring frequently.
3. Add the stock,  tomatoes and parmesan rind. Bring to the boil and simmer for an hour and a half.
4. Meanwhile cook the macaroni as per packet instructions and set aside.
5. After an hour and a half, add the cannellini beans and the macaroni.
6. Cook for 5 more minutes and serve sprinkled with parmesan cheese.

TIP
Add any other vegetables you wish to use up in step 2. Always keep the rind from the parmesan block in your refrigerator for this great recipe. They last forever.
You can use any leftover pasta – it doesn’t need to be macaroni. Making this at the end of the week helps clear out the refrigerator before you shop next.