Summer minestrone

Categories: September, Soup

Ingredients

• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 4 garlic cloves, 2 crushed and 2 chopped
• 2 celery sticks, finely chopped
• 250g new potatoes, quartered
• 2 litres vegetable stock
• 150g fine green beans, topped, tailed and halved
• 150g baby asparagus, halved
• 1kg broad beans, podded and shelled, or 150g frozen broad beans
• 300g fresh peas, podded or 100g frozen petits pois
• 3 courgettes, cut into cubes
• 150g orzo pasta
• 50g fresh basil, stalks removed
• 50g Parmesan, grated, plus extra to serve
• 100ml extra-virgin olive oil

Directions

1. In a large pan, heat the olive oil and cook the onions, crushed garlic, celery and potatoes gently for about 10 minutes. Add the stock and bring to the boil, then simmer for about 5 minutes. Add the green beans, asparagus, broad beans, peas and courgettes.

2. Bring the soup back to the boil and simmer until all the vegetables are cooked through, about 10 minutes. It’s around this time that you could add the pasta, though you could also put some salted water on to boil, then cook the pasta in it and drain before adding to the soup. Add a little more stock or water if the soup seems too thick. Season to taste.

3. Meanwhile, make the basil pesto. Use a pestle and mortar (or a food processor) to bash (or blitz) all the ingredients except the extra-virgin olive oil. Slowly drip in the oil, until you have a thick green oil emulsion. Season to taste. Stir a tablespoon of pesto through the soup, then ladle into bowls, dolloping a teaspoonful more of the pesto into each bowl, to serve.

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