marvellous minestrone soup by megan davies

Who doesn’t love a steaming bowl of soup for lunch or even supper? We definitely do. That’s why we just had to share one of our favourite nourishing soup recipes from our friend, Megan Davies’ new cookbook, Fridge Raid: Flexible, Kitchen-Foraged Recipes For Low-Waste Meals.

Warming you gently from the inside out, this delicious soup is super easy to make and incorporates all those leftover veggies that have been sitting in your fridge for the past week. Don’t have one of the items on the ingredients list? Don’t worry! Megan offers simple substitutes for every ingredient in the recipe, making it easy to tailor the soup to the current contents of your fridge without the need for an extra Big Shop. What’s more, it’s great to reheat and enjoy for your workday lunches for the rest of the week. So, what are you waiting for? Dust off your favourite soup pot or casserole dish and get cooking up some goodness!

minestrone with pecorino & parsley

serves 4-6, cooking time 1 hour

“Minestrone is my favourite soup – it’s chunky, uses up what’s in the fridge, there is pasta and a showering of cheese involved. It’s also wonderful as leftovers, loaded up with more stock and any extras you want to throw in. You can add pancetta or bacon at the start if you wish.”

ingredients

• • 1 large brown onion (or any onion, fennel or top up the other veg)
  • 2 garlic cloves (puree or powder is fine, or omit)
  • 2 carrots (or more onion, celery & leek)
  • 2 celery sticks (or more onion, carrot & leek)
  • 1 leek (or more onion, carrot & celery)
  • 200g potato (or omit)
  • 2 vine tomatoes (or any fresh tomato, or even tomato puree)
  • 400g can of cannellini beans (or any cooked beans)
  • 80g cavolo nero (or any leafy green, such as kale, spinach or cabbage)
  • 1 litre chicken stock (or any stock, but chicken works best)
  • 150g dried pasta (or any shape of dried pasta; fresh is also fine but only add 2 minutes before the end of cooking
  • 10g parsley (or any fresh herb or lemon zest)
  • 40g pecorino (or any hard cheese; a dollop of mascarpone also works)
  • butter (for frying)

• extra virgin olive oil (for drizzling)
• sea salt & freshly ground pepper

method

1. Halve, peel and thinly slice the onion. Heat a generous knob of butter in a large casserole dish/Dutch oven on the hob over a medium heat. Once the butter is gently sizzling, add the onion and fry gently for 10 minutes, until softening.
2. Peel and grate the garlic. Trim and finely slice the carrots, celery and leek. Chop the potato and tomatoes into 2-cm/¾ -inch chunks. Drain and rinse the beans and finely shred the cavolo nero.
3. When the onions have had their time, add the garlic, carrot, celery, leek and potato. Mix to coat in the butter, then let them fry together for another 10 minutes, stirring often. Next, add the tomatoes, stock, beans and pasta. Bring to the boil and simmer for 8–10 minutes, until all the veg is tender, the pasta is al dente and it’s smelling lovely.
4. When the soup only has 5 minutes left, add the cavolo nero and stir through, so it lightly cooks. Taste the soup – it’ll probably need generous seasoning. Roughly chop the parsley and shave the Pecorino into crumbly shards. Transfer the soup to bowls and top with the cheese and parsley, finishing with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil.

goes well with… garlic-rubbed toast is my favourite.

got leftovers? tear up the leftover garlicky bread suggested above, add it to the leftover minestrone and turn the soup into a ribollita.

Shop Fridge Raid by Megan Davies, published by Ryland Peters & Small (£18.99)

Photography by Rita Platts © Ryland Peters & Small