Mushroom Minestrone

The famous Italian thick soup, or minestrone, uses all sorts of mixed vegetables, so I used mixed mushrooms instead to give a collection of flavours, textures and colours - a celebration of nature. This recipe is useful for when you come home with only a few specimens of each mushroom - or you could use cultivated ones. Some dried mushrooms can always come to the rescue if need be. For vegetarians, just omit the cubes of Parma ham and use vegetable stock.