A Hearty Winter Minestrone Soup Recipe

Call it minestrone or chunky soup, this is a wonderful way of using root veggies along with borlotti beans and squash harvested in autumn.

Ingredients (serves 4)

  • 1 onion, peeled
  • 2 stalks celery
  • 1 carrot, peeled
  • half a celeriac, peeled
  • half a butternut squash, peeled
  • 1 potato, peeled
  • 1 parsnip, peeled
  • 2 cloves garlic, peeled & finely chopped
  • 1 handful cooked borlotti beans
  • 500ml veg stock
  • 1 tsp cumin (or garam masala/ras al hanout)
  • 1  tsp turmeric
  • pinch of ground cinnamon
  • sea salt & black pepper
  • zest of a small orange (optional)
  • Glug of olive oil

Method

  1. Dice all the vegetables to the same size
  2. Place a large saucepan on a medium heat and add the olive oil
  3. Fry the onion for 5 mins, stirring often to keep it cooking evenly
  4. Add celery and root veggies/squash and continue cooking for 5 mins, stirring regularly
  5. Add the garlic and spices and stir in
  6. Add the stock, bring to the boil and then simmer for 20 mins until the roots are softened and almost cooked through
  7. Add the borlotti beans and orange zest and cook for a further 5 mins until the roots are cooked through

You can make this in advance as it only gets more flavoursome when you re-heat it. It’s a great one to make as a big batch for warming winter lunches during the week.