Summer Minestrone

Servings: 6

Cooking time: Approximately 1 hour

What you’ll need

Heavy based saucepan

Ingredients

• 1 red onion, finely chopped
• 3 sticks of celery, finely chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 1 red chilli, deseeded and finely chopped
• 1 small carrot, finely chopped
• 200g broad beans
• 200g asparagus
• good handful chard
• 1.5 – 2 litres chicken stock ( or water)
• 1 tin cannellini beans, strained and rinsed well
• olive oil
• salt and pepper

Method

1. Heat a heavy-based saucepan, add a good glug of olive oil and then gently saute the chopped onion, celery, chilli and garlic together until softened and taking on a bit of colour.
2. Heat the chicken stock and then add to the pan. If using water just add cold water and then bring it back to a simmer. Simmer gently for 15 – 20 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, bring a large pan of water to the boil. Add a good pinch of salt and then add the asparagus and cook until al dente, remove from the water and set aside. Add the broad beans and cook just for a minute or two, remove and set aside with the asparagus.
4. Then add the chard to the boiling water and cook just until the stalks are tender. About 5 minutes or so. Remove from the water. Let it cool a bit before chopping finely.
5. Add all of the green vegetables to the soup. Stir in and check the seasoning.
6. Serve with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and a good grating of fresh parmesan. Or with some freshly made pesto.

Notes

You can use which ever green vegetables are in season, such as peas or courgettes instead of the asparagus which is only in season in early summer. If you can’t get chard just leave it out.