Minestrone

Name: Minestrone
Yield: Serves 4
Cuisine: Italian
Ingredients: 225 g (½ lb) fresh kidney or borlotti beans (tinned or frozen are fine); salt and pepper; 2 medium-sized fresh tomatoes, peeled and chopped, or 200 g (7 oz) tin of tomatoes, without the juice; 50 g (2 oz) bacon or salt pork, cut into 2.5cm (1 inch) pieces; 50 g (2 oz) uncooked rice or macaroni, spaghetti or some other pasta, broken into small pieces; or you can use both rice and pasta; 1 small onion, thinly sliced; 225 g (½ lb) peas (again, tinned or frozen are fine); 100 g (3½ oz) young cabbage, shredded; 1.2 litres (2 pints) good beef stock; sprig of sage; 1 celery stalk, scraped and diced; 100 g (3½ oz) fresh spinach, stems removed and the leaves shredded; freshly grated parmesan, to serve

Preparation info

Serves
4

Difficulty
Easy

Appears in

Potty!

By Clarissa Dickson Wright

Published 2010

About

I am told by my Italian friends that Minestrone simply means ‘soup’ and that it varies from province to city to town. The one I particularly like is the Milanese version, which is made with lots of fresh, young vegetables and can be served hot or cold. It should be thick with vegetables.

Ingredients

1.2 litres (2 pints) good beef stock
50 g (2

Europe
Italy
Milan
Mediterranean
Soup

Method

Bring the stock to the boil. Add all the ingredients, except the spinach, which can be added at the very end, and simmer as gently as possible until the vegetables are tender and have absorbed nearly all the stock. Taste for seasoning and add some more beef stock to make the soup the consistency you like. Serve in heated soup plates and scatter grated Parmesan cheese on top.