Minestrone

More a meal than a soup, this is economical, because only the greediest people would demand more than an omelette to follow. You can play about with the ingredients according to what is at hand, adding odd scraps of boiled bacon, a bacon bone, and such vegetables as are cheap and in season, but keep to the rule of putting slow-cooking vegetables in ahead of the quicker cooking ones. Other vegetables which can go in include celery, beans, peas, a Jerusalem artichoke or two, even a few spring