Vegetable Minestrone with Pesto
There is nothing more I enjoy more on a cold bitter day than 1) Wearing one of my favourite colourful fur coats and 2) warming myself up with a hearty soup or stew. This Vegetable minestrone soup with pesto is a Ligurian speciality and is adapted from Claudia Roden’s recipe from ‘The food in Italy’. I love it so much; a dish that packs so much flavour but needs little effort is definately a winner for me.
Vegetable Minestrone with Pesto
Ingredients (serves 4-6)
2 medium potatoes, peeled & cubed
200g Butternut squash, peeled & cubed
100g Mushrooms, sliced
1/2 Savoy cabbage, sliced
150g peas
150g Broad Beans
5 large plum tomatoes, cubed
Vegetable stock cube
1 x 400g Cannelini Beans, drained
200g baby pasta, i.e. ditalini
100g Basil Pesto
100g Parmesan, grated
- Add all the vegetables & stock cube to a large pan of water
- Bring to the boil, season with salt & pepper and then allow to simmer for at least 30 minutes.
- Then add the cannellini beans. The base of your soup is now done.
- When you want to finish serving up this dish, bring it back to the boil, add the pasta and cook until the pasta is al dente.
- Ladle into bowl, stir in the basil pesto and drizzle on top. Sprinkle parmesan and start warming up your cockles
