Minestrone Soup

Derived from a Jamie Oliver recipe, this dish has become a favourite in our household. It’s hearty and delicious, and gives us a great big bowl of every colour vegetable you can think of in the most satisfying way. We tend to use whatever Harry has in abundance to make up the vegetable quota. When Harry’s black nebula carrots are in season, it can become a bit of a strange colour, but I take great delight in imagining all the antioxidants I’m consuming. It’s a meal I can put together fairly quickly, then leave Dave to stir it occasionally while I finish off jobs in the office. Most meals in our household need to work this way these days.

Beef-bourguignon-recipe-tommerups-dairy-farm

Ingredients

1 ham hock or 250gm pack of wood-smoked bacon from the farm 2 cloves of Harry’s Paddock organic heirloom garlic 1 large onion Olive oil 4 carrots – heirloom of course 2 sticks of celery or several stalks of Harry’s heirloom carrots – they make a fantastic celery substitute (and the tops are a terrific parsley substitute – who knew!) 3 large handfuls of seasonal greens such as kale, cabbage, silverbeet, asian greens from Harry’s Paddock chopped in smallish pieces 3 sprigs rosemary  1 litre vegetable stock 2 x 400 g tin of crushed tomatoes 1 x 400 g tin of four bean mix 100 g dried macaroni

Method

Heat a large saucepan on medium heat with a good splash of olive oil. Finely dice onion and garlic before frying off gently in the pot. Remove the skin from the ham hock then cut ham from the bone. Chop into small pieces. If we’re using bacon, we remove much of the top layer of fat before cutting the bacon into small pieces – fry gently with the onion and garlic. Chop carrots and celery into small chunks and pop in with the other ingredients. Fry off for a few minutes. Add tinned tomatoes, rosemary sprigs, vegetable stock and chopped greens. Bring to a slow boil and cook until vegetables are just tender. Rinse the tinned beans then add to the pot along with the dried macaroni. Finish off on the stove until the pasta is cooked to your liking.
Kay