Minestrone

Minestrone soup is one of the first dishes I learned to cook as a child and it remains one of my favourites. Then, bacon rinds and trimmings provided the flavouring. Now I make my stock with a knuckle bone from a Parma ham. The soup is even better the next day and almost makes a meal in itself, so full of beans and other vegetables that a spoon will practically stand up in it; use haricot, cannellini or borlotti beans. If you wish, small soup pasta or broken-up spaghetti can be added. Alter