Minestrone

Minestrone is a lunch in itself when accompanied by great bread with olive oil drizzled over it. An old-fashioned minestrone would have the vegetables boiled for hours. In this version, I like to keep them fresh and vibrantly coloured. The easiest way to achieve this is to have a large pot of boiling salted water on the stove in which to blanch the vegetables. Place the vegetables in a conical strainer, dip it in the water and cook until just tender. Refresh the vegetables under cold runnin