Minestrone

Where This Goes Wrong

Twelve minutes on the soffritto. It is the foundation.

Pasta for the last eight minutes only.

A Parmesan rind in the pot is free depth if you have one.

How to Make Minestrone

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1. Heat the olive oil in a large pan and add the onion, carrot and celery.

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2. Cook over a low heat for 12 minutes, until completely soft and sweet but not coloured.

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3. Stir in the garlic and tomato purée and cook 2 minutes.

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4. Add the tinned tomatoes and cook 5 minutes.

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5. Pour in the stock and add the rosemary, bay leaf, Parmesan rind if using, salt and pepper.

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6. Simmer 15 minutes.

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7. Add the courgette, green beans and borlotti beans and simmer 8 minutes.

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8. Add the pasta and simmer 8 minutes more.

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9. Stir in the cavolo nero and cook 3 minutes, until it wilts.

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10. Fish out the rosemary, bay and rind, and serve with the extra virgin olive oil poured over each bowl.

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Related guide: Ingredient substitutions.

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Why the Method Works

Give the soffritto — onion, carrot and celery — a full twelve minutes over a low heat before anything else goes in. It should collapse and sweeten rather than colour, and it is the whole foundation: rushed for four minutes, the soup tastes of stock and vegetables sitting separately in it rather than of one thing. The pasta goes in for the last eight minutes only.

After You've Cooked It

Better the next day. Keeps 4 days refrigerated; the pasta swells, so add stock.

Common Substitutions & Variations

• An eighth of a teaspoon of garlic powder per clove is the stand-in usually given when you are out of fresh garlic; it will not brown the same way, and it burns easily, so add it with the liquid.

Good With

• Crusty bread
• Grated hard cheese
• A glass of Chianti

Minestrone Nutrition

No nutrition figures are given for this recipe: they cannot be worked out reliably from its ingredient list (some ingredient lines cannot be read). Why some recipes have none.

Vegan when made without the parmesan rind. Vegetarian when made with a hard cheese made without animal rennet in place of the parmesan. Dairy-free when made without the parmesan rind.

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