Minestrone
Make ahead of time and freeze without the pasta
Makes enough for: 4 people
Ingredients
- 30 mls olive oil
- 1 small onion, peeled, cut in half, and thinly sliced
- 1 clove garlic, thinly sliced
- 1 carrot, peeled and grated
- 2 ribs celery, thinly sliced
- 3 sprigs parsley, leaves picked
- 1 stalk rosemary, leaves picked
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 potato, diced
- 50 mls red wine
- 30 g tomato paste
- 1 baby marrow, quartered
- 50 g frozen peas
- 50 g green beans, trimmed and cut into thirds
- 1.5 l vegetable stock
- 50 g orecchiette
- 50 g tinned cannellini beans, rinsed (drained weight)
- 5 mls basil pesto
- 1 squeeze lemon juice
- salt and freshly ground black pepper to season
- Parmesan cheese, grated, to garnish
Method
- Place the olive oil into a large soup pot and heat over a medium temperature
- Add the onion, reduce the temperature and sautée until soft
- Add the garlic and cook until fragrant
- Add the carrot, celery, parsley, rosemary and bay leaf, increase the temperature and cook until the celery is soft
- Add the potato, red wine, tomato pase and simmer for 2 minutes
- Add the baby marrow, peas and green beans, stir to combine then pour in the stock
- Reduce the temperature and simmer for 45 minutes
- At this stage you can purée the soup if you don't want it chunky
- Bring to the boil and add the orecchiette and cook until al dente
- Add the tinned beans and cook for 5 minutes
- Add the pesto and lemon juice and stir to combine
- Season to taste, spoon into bowls, garnish with grated parmesan and enjoy