Minestrone soup
Wholesome, hearty & flexible
30 mins
Not Too Tricky
serves 8
About the recipe
This hearty and nutritious minestrone soup is brilliant at embracing what you’ve got in your fridge. We make it every month and all the kids love it – it’s one of the dishes where they always go in for seconds. It’s super-easy to tweak according to the vegetables you have in the house – embrace the seasons but also use the best of your freezer and store cupboard, let it flex for you. And if you want to keep it veggie, leave out the bacon and just go straight to the veg.
nutrition per serving
148
Calories
58.1%
0.4g
Saturates
0.2%
5.6g
Sugars
2.2%
0.4g
Salt
0.2%
6.9g
Protein
2.7%
26.4g
Carbs
10.4%
5.3g
Fibre
2.1%
of an adult’s reference intake
Recipe From
By jamie
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Ingredients
1 clove of garlic
2 small onions
olive oil
2 fresh bay leaves
2 carrots
2 sticks of celery
2 large handfuls of seasonal greens, such as savoy cabbage, curly kale, chard
1 vegetable stock cube
1 x 400g tin of plum tomatoes
2 x 400g tins of beans, such as cannellini, butter, or mixed
100g dried pasta
Parmesan cheese, Grana Padano or vegetarian alternative, to serve
extra virgin olive oil
crusty bread, to serve
Top Tip
BUDGET-FRIENDLY MEAL PLAN TIPS:This recipe serves 8, so you’ll have plenty left over for lunches. To serve, reheat in a pan, stirring often until piping hot through.– Don’t waste any of your greens – remove those tougher stalks, finely chop and add them to the base of your soup with the onion, carrot and celery.– This soup is great for using up odds and ends from your dried pasta packets. Pile whatever you’ve got in a clean tea towel, then give it a good bash so it’s all about the same size. EASY SWAPS: – When it comes to herbs, use what you’ve got. Rosemary or thyme leaves would be delicious here, or even a sprinkling of dried herbs.– Add other chopped veg when you’re frying the onions, if you’ve got it, like leek, courgette or potato.– Use whatever stock you can get your hands on – of course a fresh broth would be brilliant, but a humble stock cube will absolutely do the job.– This is lovely finished with a sprinkling of grated Parmesan cheese, but you could use Cheddar. A sprinkling of fresh baby basil leaves will always be beautiful, if you’ve got them, and my kids enjoy it with a dollop of pesto on top, too.– Out of pasta? No problem, use rice instead or even hunks of bread, which will soak up all that lovely flavour.
Method
This tasty, nutritious minestrone soup is brilliant at embracing what you’ve got in your fridge. We make it every month and all the kids love it – it’s one of the dishes where they always go in for seconds. It’s super-easy to tweak according to the vegetables you have in the house – embrace the seasons but also use the best of your freezer and store cupboard, let it flex for you.
- Peel and finely chop the garlic and onion. Put a large shallow casserole pan on a medium-high heat with 1 tablespoon of olive oil.
- Add the garlic and the bay leaves, followed by the onions.
- Trim and chop the carrots and celery into rough 1cm dice, adding to the pan as you go. Remove and finely chop any tough stalks from your greens and add to the pan. Cook for 10 to 15 minutes, stirring regularly, or until softened and caramelised.
- Crumble in the stock cube, pour in the tinned tomatoes, breaking them up with your spoon, then add 1 tin’s worth of water. Pour in the beans, juice and all, then add a pinch of sea salt and black pepper.
- Shred your greens and sprinkle into the pan, top up with 600ml of boiling kettle water, then add the pasta. Cover and leave to simmer for 10 to 15 minutes, or until the pasta is just cooked and the soup has thickened to your liking.
- Season the soup to perfection, then serve it with a grating of Parmesan cheese and a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil.
