Marcella’s minestrone

Serves:

Ingredients

• 4 tablespoons oil
• 30g butter
• 2 onions, finely chopped
• 2 large carrots, diced
• 2 celery sticks, diced
• 1 large potato, diced
• 200g green or red cabbage, shredded
• half a  red capsicum, sliced
• 2 small zucchini, sliced
• 1.5L chicken or vegetable stock
• 400g can diced tomatoes
• parmesan rind (optional)
• 400g can cannellini beans
• freshly grated parmesan, to serve

Method

Melt oil and butter in a large stock pot over low heat.

Cook onions for 2-3 minutes until soft.

While the onion is cooking, chop carrots, then add to the pot, stir and then leave to cook for 2-3 minutes while you chop up the celery.

Continue adding the vegetables one at a time.

After adding the zucchini, allow to cook for a further 2-3 minutes then add stock, tomatoes and parmesan rind (if using).

Bring to the boil and then reduce heat to a scant simmer.

Simmer for 2 hours, then add cannellini beans and simmer for another 30 minutes.

To serve, remove parmesan rind, check taste and add salt and pepper if needed, then ladle into bowls and garnish with a generous amount of parmesan.

Notes:

• This is a beautiful minestrone, straight from the hallowed kitchens of Marcella Hazan.
• What I love about this recipe is that you prepare the vegetables as you go; you could do them all at once, but make sure you leave a couple of minutes between each addition to help bring out the wonderful flavour.
• You can stop the 2 hour simmering period at any point and restart later in the day or the next day.
• However, the food safety supervisor in me must insist that you refrigerate the cooled soup in between!
• Unlike most vegetable dishes, this soup is even better the next day and will keep in the fridge in a sealed container for up to 5 days.
• Recipe created by Melissa Hughes for Kidspot.

Serving Suggestions

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