Minestrone Soup
A recipe for a rich, hearty minestrone soup with plenty of vegetables, bacon and pasta.
Servings 4 Servings
Ingredients
- 200 g
bacon, diced
- 2 sticks celery
- 2-3 carrots
- 1 small courgette, seeds removed
- 1 onion, roughly chopped
- 4 cloves garlic, grated or crushed
- 80 g fresh spinach
- 1 handful flat-leaf parsley, roughly chopped
- 1-2 tins beans – I use kidney beans and cannellini beans
- 150 g pasta (uncooked), I used small shell pasta
- 3 tbsp
tomato purée
- 2 tins chopped tomatoes or polpa (finely chopped tomatoes)
- 1-1,2 l weak stock – I use 1-1 1/2 stock cubes (chicken, vegetable or beef)
- 2 bay leaves
Salt and pepper
Olive oil
- 1 tbsp Italian seasoning
Instructions
- Trim and cut the carrots, courgette and celery as you like – some prefer them finely diced, others in chunkier pieces.
- Fry the diced bacon in a little oil in a large saucepan until golden – it should not go crisp, just golden.
- Add the onion, garlic and carrots and fry for about 3 minutes, then season with a little salt and pepper.
- Then add the courgette, celery and Italian seasoning and fry for a couple of minutes more.
- Add the tomato purée and let it heat through for a moment, then add the chopped tomatoes and bay leaves and heat through for 5 minutes.
- Add 1 litre of stock and the pasta and cook until the pasta is half done.Add more stock if needed.
- Add the beans and continue cooking until the pasta is al dente or cooked to your liking.
- Finally, season to taste with salt and pepper, and stir in the spinach and parsley just before serving.
Notes
Minestrone soup is also wonderful with a small dollop of crème fraîche on top and plenty of finely chopped spring onions.