My Favourite Minestrone

Now that the light fades sooner and the evening air has its Autumn chill, soup has made a welcome return to our dinner table. For me, there is nothing better on a colder night than a bowl of warm, homemade soup with fresh bread. Such a simple meal but so nourishing!

Minestrone Soup

Over the weekend, I made a big batch of my favourite minestrone filled with delicious vegetables. This soup is easy to make, economical and filling when served with fresh bread. The original recipe is long forgotten but I have made it so many times over the years that I no longer need a recipe to follow. This is how I made it today:

Minestrone Soup

3 cloves garlic
1 large onion
2 rashers bacon
large glug of olive oil
3 large carrots
2 sticks celery
2 large or 3 medium potatoes
large handful of green beans
1 large zucchini
1 litre vegetable stock
1/2 litre of filtered water
1 x 400g can chopped organic tomatoes
2 tablespoons tomato paste
large handful of fresh basil leaves

* You will need a large soup pot (or similar) with a lid to make this soup.*

1.  Peel and crush garlic cloves. Peel and finely chop onion. Dice bacon.
2. Peel and roughly chop remaining vegetables, keeping beans and zucchini separate from carrots, celery and potatoes.
3.  Heat large glug of olive oil in large pot over medium heat.
4.  Fry garlic, onion and bacon in oil until onion becomes translucent.
5.  Add chopped carrots, celery and potatoes and fry for a few minutes.
6.  Add chopped beans and zucchini and fry for few minutes.
7.  Turn down heat to low, put lid on pot and let vegetables cook for further 15mins, stirring very regularly so they don't stick to the bottom of the pot.
8.  Add stock, water, tomatoes and tomato paste and chopped basil leaves to pot. Stir until well combined.
9. Bring to boil again and then lower heat so soup comes to a simmer. Cook until all vegetables are tender.

You can serve this soup with warm, fresh bread and shavings of parmesan cheese. Alternatively, you could serve it with cooked pasta shells or macaroni stirred through the soup instead of the bread...or with the bread so that that little puddle of soup, left in the bottom of the bowl,  can be soaked up. Either way, it's delicious!

Meg