Vegetable Soup

My family eats this soup so often we consider it one of our classics. The perfect minestrone requires good-quality, fresh and seasonal ingredients, lots of chopping and some patience. All you need to add to that is water, olive oil and salt - you don’t even need any stock. As a purely vegetarian first course, minestrone goes with a meat or dairy meal and is ideal in winter, though my family also likes it lukewarm on a summer’s day, so feel free to be creative and var