Minestrone is a hearty Italian soup that is typically made with a variety of vegetables, pasta or rice, and often includes beans and tomatoes. It is a versatile dish that can be customized based on available ingredients and personal preferences. Minestrone is known for its rich flavors and can be enjoyed as a comforting meal on its own or as a delicious starter.

Minestrone is usually made with ingredients that are in season at the time. This means flexibility. There’s a lot of different minestrone recipes you can find on internet, here’s the one I made last week. You can easily swap ingredients you don’t like or don’t have on hand for something else you may have.

Ingredients:

• 1-2 medium sweet potatoes
• 1-2 medium parsnips
• 500 g chestnut mushrooms
• 500 g shredded savoy (or any other) cabbage
• 200 g broccoli
• 2 celery sticks
• a couple of bell peppers
• 2 small courgettes
• 100 g wholewheat pasta
• 2 cans of white beans (about 700 g cooked)
• 1 medium onion
• a few garlic cloves
• 1 can chopped tomatoes
• some coriander
• olive oil
• a few bay leaves
• salt, pepper
• chili flakes

Making this soup is really simple. Prepare your vegetables by washing them, peeling (garlic, sweet potato) and chopping. In a big pot that you will be using for soup pour a little bit of olive oil and onion and garlic for a couple of minutes.

Now pour water (you can always add more if needed) in, throw in a few bay leaves, some salt, pepper and a few chili flakes. Add vegetables that cook longest, like parsnips and sweet potatoes. Bring everything to boil, then reduce heat to medium and let soup simmer.

After 10 minutes or so add the rest of vegetables, pasta, beans and chopped tomatoes. Let everything cook another 10 minutes, then taste and add more spices if needed. When everything is cooked, add some coriander to taste. Let soup rest for 10-20 minutes so that all flavors mix together.

Before serving soup, pour a spoon of olive oil in each plate for extra taste. Enjoy!