Minestrone Soup Recipe



Every Italian cook book will include a minestrone soup recipe. It is an absolute classic! The term Minestrone comes from “Minestra” meaning soup, and the suffix "one" which is used to indicate largeness or importance. Put together it makes it a "big soup". For every Italian or Soup cook book you can find, you will discover a different minestrone soup recipe! Most will be tomato based, and all will be cooked with vegetables, beans and some sort of carbohydrate - rice, potatoes or pasta.

This minestrone soup recipe is made with small pieces of pasta. Cooking the pasta in the soup means that the pasta absorbs all the flavours from the soup at the same time as magically thickening the liquid. Resulting in a filling and nutritious meal

Serves: 5 Hungry People

Preparation Time: 10 minutes

Cooking Time: 20 minutes

Printer Friendly Recipe

Ingredients for Minestrone Soup Recipe:

  • 1 Medium Red Onion
  • 1 Large Carrot
  • 2 Sticks Celery
  • 1 Teaspoon Garlic Purée (or 2 cloves freshly pressed)
  • 175g (1 cup) Courgette (Zucchini) 
  • 1 Red Pepper
  • 2 x 400 ml / 14 oz Canned Chopped Tomatoes
  • 1 x 400 ml / 14 oz Canned Cannellini Beans
  • 500ml Vegetable Stock (made from powder / stock cube)
  • 75g (3/4 cup) Dried Pasta (any shape)
  • 1 Tablespoon Pesto (shop bought is fine)
  • 2 Tablespoon Olive Oil
  • Parmesan to serve

Equipment Needed:

  • Sharp Knife and Chopping Board
  • Vegetable Peeler
  • Large Saucepan or Casserole Dish (that can be heated on the hob)
  • Measuring Jug
  • Colander
  • Pestle or Rolling pin

Method:

  1. Finely chop the red onion and celery. Peel the carrot and cut into bite sized pieces.
  2. Heat the olive oil on a high heat in the large saucepan / casserole dish. Fry the onion, garlic, celery and carrot until soft (approx. 5 minutes)
  3. Chop the courgette (Zucchini) and the red pepper into 2 cm chunks and add them to the saucepan. Stir well and cook for 1 minute. Add the canned tomatoes.
  4. Prepare the vegetable stock and pour it into the saucepan.
  5. Drain the cannellini beans in the colander and then add them to the soup.
  6. Place the pasta into a freezer bag or a plastic bowl. Bash it with a pestle or the end of a rolling pin until you have a mixture of small and larger pieces of broken pasta. Add these to the saucepan and stir really well.
  7. Bring the soup to the boil and leave to cook for as long as the pasta needs (according to the packet instructions) Stir halfway through the cooking time. If you find that the soup is getting too thick, simply add a little more boiling water whilst cooking.
  8. Once the pasta is cooked, Add the pesto to the soup and stir well to mix.
  9. Spoon into bowls and garnish with shaved pieces of parmesan on the top.