Minestrone Soup Recipe
My daughter was sick recently and she had one request. ” I wish you could make me some soup Mum.”
Dear daughter did not even need to ask as I had sensed the gloom of winter upon us and already gathered all the ingredients that I needed for this minestrone soup recipe.
Each winter as suntan turns to sniffles, I long for a restorative bowl of hot soup. My Oma set the whole longing in process many moons ago. There was no visit made to her house where I was not served a bowl of hot Chicken and Vegetable soup. Sometimes with meatballs, sometimes without. The pot bubbled on the stove for days I am told, and was miraculously always full (if by miraculous you mean Oma persistently refilled it to make it last a little longer).
My own miniskirted Mother was apparently skill-less when it came to cooking, until my Oma took her under her wing and passed down the secrets. Thus I too was offered Chicken Soup each winter.
I recall arriving home from school one short, drab day, hemmed in by grey storm clouds and black night. There on the table was a bowl of hot chicken soup to replenish and revive. All was well.
Now to my homemade minestrone soup recipe. Curative of all manner of ills, although not always in the way you would expect. This is the recipe I use when a friend is in need through loss, loneliness or longing.
CLASSIC MINESTRONE
- 1 large leek, thinly sliced
- 3 carrots, chopped
- 3 sticks of celery, finely chopped
- 1 medium sized zuchini, chopped
- 110g green beans
- 1 Litre of hot water
- 1 litre of Vegetable stock
- 400g tin chopped tomatoes
- 2 teaspoon of Mixed herbs
- 400g can of Cannellini Beans
- ½ cup small pasta shells
- salt and pepper Fresh herbs to add as you like.
- Chop all the fresh vegetables to a similar size and cook in a tablespoon of olive oil in a large pot, until just sizzling.
- Cover, lower the heat and sweat the vegetables for 15 minutes, shaking the pan occasionally.
- Add the stock, water, tomatoes, dried herbs and salt. Bring to the boil, replace lid, and simmer gently for 30 minutes.
- Add the beans and their liquid and the pasta and simmer for a further ten minutes.
- At the end of this time add fresh herbs and adjust seasoning. Enjoy.
This soup can be frozen and also improves with time, so can sit happily in the fridge for a couple of days. Eat sprinkled with parmesan cheese for an indulgent touch. Add bread to make a meal of it. 
So why don’t you make a bowl and “*soup someone” this Winter.
* to “soup someone” is to bless their cotton Explorer socks off with the bringing of steaming soup, in Winter. Happy Eating. Dani xx 
