Weekend Foodie: Minestrone Soup

Spring is almost here, but there's still a little nip in the air here in Munich. This warming bowl of veggie goodness is just the kind of thing I want to eat right now. It's based on Jamie Oliver's recipe but with a few ingredient changes based on what I had to hand (and minus the meat). That's the thing about minestrone. You can pretty much adjust it to what you have available/what's in season. And you can feel all virtuous about all those veggies you're eating!

Ingredients (serves 4-6)

3 cloves garlic
4-5 medium carrots
1 large red onion
1 stick of celery, leaves reserved
1 large courgette
1 large tomato (or 4-5 cherry tomatoes)
2 big handfuls of green cabbage (or other green leaves)
1 large cup of frozen peas (or fresh if you can get them)
2 litres of vegetable stock
150g baby pasta (I used spelt pasta but wheat pasta is fine too)

1. Finely slice your garlic, carrots, onion and celery and cook in a very large pan on a medium heat with a few glugs of sunflower oil for around 5 minutes.
2. Finely slice the courgette and add this to pan, stir everything up and cook for another 3-4 minutes.
3. Chop the tomato and cabbage (or other greens) and add to the pan, along with the peas, give it all a stir and add the stock.
4. Bring the stock to the boil, then add the pasta and cook for around 10 minutes.
5. Season to taste and serve with the reserved celery leaves (or parsley would be good too), and some crusty bread. Jamie also recommends topping with pesto, which I didn't get to try, but that sounds like a fantastic idea!