Recipe for Minestrone Soup
By: Karen Vivers
Published: Thursday, February 6, 2014 - 5:53am

Ingredients




1 x tbsp olive oil
125gr / 4.5 oz. smoked bacon sliced finely or into thin strips
1 x large onion chopped finely
3 x large cloves of garlic, chopped finely
3 x stalks of celery chopped finely
3 x carrots, peeled and chopped finely
2 x tbsp tomato purée
1 x tbsp of fresh thyme leaves
2 x large tomatoes chopped into 8ths
1 x tin of chopped tomatoes (400gr / 14 oz.)
1 x tin of kidney beans (400gr / 14 oz.) drained and washed.  A more traditional option is cannellini beans, but I just prefer kidney.
100gr / 3.5 oz. macaroni (or you can use spaghetti or other pasta broken into little pieces).
1.2 liter / 2.5 pt. UK / 2.1 pt.US chicken or vegetable stock
1/3 of a savoy cabbage, shredded
Salt and black pepper to taste
Some finely grated parmesan to serve

Preparation

1 Heat the oil in a very large pan that has a close fitting lid.  Then add the celery, bacon, onion, carrot and garlic.  Fry this off for about 5 to 7 minutes until it has softened a little.  No colour is needed on the vegetables, so make sure the heat isn’t too high that they become brown, but high enough the vegetables sweat and soften. 2 Add the tomato purée and  the thyme leaves, stir through and cook for about 30 seconds. 3 3.	Add the stock, the tin of tomatoes, fresh tomatoes, and a little salt and pepper. Stir everything through, set the heat so that your soup is on a gentle simmer, cover and cook for about 25 minutes or until the vegetables are cooked al dente. 4 Add the pasta and cook until the pasta is ready.  Follow the timing instructions on the packet, but this is normally about 7 minutes. 5 Add the cabbage and the beans and cook until the cabbage has wilted.  This will take about 5 minutes. 6 Check for seasoning and add some salt and pepper if needed before serving. 7 Sprinkle a little parmesan over each bowl of soup.

About

A timeless classic, always a crowd pleaser.  Easy to make, a one pot wonder!