Summer Minestrone

Minestrone ("big soup") refers to a thick vegetable soup, that generally contains pasta and sometimes peas or beans. It is usually topped liberally with grated parmesan cheese and is hearty enough to be considered a meal.

Serves 4 to 5

1 medium onion chopped
1 medium zucchini cut into large dice (1/2 " to 3/4")
1 celery stalk cut into large dice
1 large or 2 medium carrots cut into large dice
2 medium potatoes cut into large dice
3 large fresh tomatoes, skinned, or 1/2 can 398 ml canned tomatoes, diced or whole
Fresh or dried herbs
Salt and pepper to taste (at least 1/2 tsp of salt!)

250 grams fresh spinach sliced (add the last 10 or so minutes)
approx 6 cups water or chicken stock, or a mix of both

This recipe is a very simple soup that you can use chicken stock as the base, or water if you don't have any chicken stock. Tomato juice can be part of the liquid as well. I like to add canned cannelli or white kidney beans to it at the end.

You can saute the vegetables in a little olive oil, before adding the liquid, or put the vegetables and the liquid together in the stockpot and bring to the boil and then reduce to a simmer. Fresh herbs are great if you have them (basil, oregano, marjoram) but dried works well too. Add these now. If you have an end of a piece of fresh parmesan, put this into the soup to simmer. It adds flavour and some salt to the soup.

Simmer about 20 minutes. If you have leftover cooked pasta, this can be added at the end. The soup can get bigger and bigger! If you add pasta, you will need to add more liquid to the soup. You can use fresh green beans in this soup too. It is awesome.

Enjoy! I will post a picture next time I make it.