Re: Minestrone> Mel

[Guest guest]

Hiya Mel

I haven't made Minestrone this year, but I always made it like this:

1 Onion finely diced

2 carrots & 1 stick of celery chopped into smallish cubes

1 zucchini cut into half moons

A cup of beans chopped into smallish pieces (they can go grey tho with subsequent reheating)

1 clove of garlic, crushed

1 tin of chopped tomatoes with juice

500 ml of chicken or vege stock

1 can of cannellini or borlotti beans drained and rinsed

Some chopped speck or bacon (whatever I had to hand)

500g of rissoni or small pasta

Olive oil

Cook off the speck in some olive oil, then add the garlic and vegetables, except the beans and allow to soften stirring for about 10 minutes. Add the stock, tinned tomatoes bring to boil and allow to simmer for about 10 minutes, you might add a bit more liquid, check the flavour if you think it needs more stock, mix that in or just add hot water. Check if you want to add any seasoning after that. Add the pasta and allow to simmer for another 10 minutes or until the pasta is almost ready, then add the beans so that they just heat thru. Taste it again for the pasta, if it is cooked and the beans are heated thru then it is ready. Add some fresh olive oil and parmesan to serve.

I used to make these into batches and freeze them; it was great to take to work. You can make it thicker if you want something a little more hearty. You can also change the vegetables to what you have on hand, like potatoes, peas and leeks for example. You can also double the quantities easily and add the two different types of beans for variety. It's also nice with some cubed up sourdough mixed into it.