early autumn minestrone (minestrone d'inizio autunno)

servings
Serves 4 to 6

method

Add your fresh or dried and soaked beans to a pan of water with the bay leaf, squashed tomato and potato – this will help to flavor the beans and soften their skins. Cook until tender – check by tasting. They must be soft. Dried beans can take up to an hour, but check fresh ones after 25 minutes. Drain (reserving about half a glass of the cooking water), and discard the bay leaf, tomato and potato. Now season with salt, pepper and a splash of oil.

While the beans are cooking, make your soffrito. Heat a good splash of olive oil in a saucepan and add the chopped pancetta or bacon, onions, carrots, celery, fennel, garlic and the finely sliced basil stalks. Sweat very slowly on a low heat, with the lid just ajar, for around 15 to 20 minutes until soft, but not brown. Add the tomatoes, courgettes and red wine and simmer gently for 15 minutes.

Now add the chard or spinach, stock and beans. Put the dried pasta into a polythene bag, squeeze all the air out and tie the end up. Bash gently with a rolling pin to break the pasta into pieces. Snip the end off the bag and empty the contents into the soup. Stir and continue to simmer until the pasta is cooked.

If you think the soup is looking too thick, add a little more stock or some of the reserved cooking water to thin it down a bit. Then taste and season with salt and pepper. Serve sprinkled with the torn-up basil leaves and with some extra virgin olive oil drizzled over the top. Put a block of Parmesan and a grater on the table for everyone to help themselves. Heaven!

• from Jamie's Italy

ingredients

• 200g cannellini or borlotti beans, fresh, or dried and soaked overnight
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 tomato, squashed
• 1 small potato, peeled
• sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
• olive oil
• 4 rashers smoked pancetta or bacon, preferably free-range or organic
• 2 small red onions, peeled and finely chopped
• 2 carrots, peeled and chopped
• 2 sticks of celery, trimmed and chopped
• ½ a head of fennel, chopped
• 3 cloves of garlic, peeled and finely chopped
• a small bunch of fresh basil, leaves and stalks separated
• 2 x 400g tins of good-quality plum tomatoes
a glass of red wine
• 2 small courgettes, quartered and sliced
• 200g chard or spinach, washed and roughly sliced (including stalks)
• 565ml chicken, ham or vegetable stock, preferably organic
• 55g dried pasta
a block of Parmesan cheese, to serve

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1. by lmmcd on Mon 02 Jan 2012 @ 12:42

Delicious. Just made an enormous pot of this for the family. A meal and a half! Another brilliant recipe Jamie. I will continue to use this again and again. Thank you.<br />

2. by Jessica Lowe on Thu 27 Oct 2011 @ 02:54

I made this for my husband. He said it was "ridiculous" (meaning AMAZING). I like to give away meals each week to people who might need the help, and with the amount I cooked, I was able to feed my husband and I three times each, plus give away three meals. Each person I gave it away to said it was "the best soup I have ever had". I think the key is using the fresh beans (I used barlotti) and homemade chicken stock rather than strore bought. This is an awesome meal that will stay in this household for years! Thanks Jaime for this beautiful recipe, and for all that you are doing to educate our world about healthy cooking.

3. by jill on Wed 05 Oct 2011 @ 13:08

wish i'd seen this 3 days ago...combined a couple of recipes & came up with this...only added garbanzo beans & shredded chinese cabbage...left tomatoes & potatoes in..no fennel or wine, will definitely use it next time..first time using pancetta...great recipe with crusty bread...ty

4. by Mutterkorn on Wed 05 Oct 2011 @ 12:27

I own the book and love this recipe.<br /> It's very easy to vary.

5. by seanne@lilmisstutu.com.au on Sun 08 May 2011 @ 09:53

this soup is brilliant been a keeper in this household for 2 years so far... just LOVE LOVE LOVE :) great work Jamie

6. by jhall on Mon 14 Dec 2009 @ 21:14

This recipe is great! I subbed brown basmati rice for the pasta, which I realize destroys the whole point of calling it minestrone, but it was awesome. The chard and parmesan really make it.

7. by Andrew on Wed 12 Aug 2009 @ 17:11

It was fun to make and tasted excellent. The fresh baked bread made it 100%. Well done for telling us.

8. by cristina on Wed 15 Jul 2009 @ 19:46

It is a great recipe my children of 2 3 and 5 love it..

9. by Mon on Sun 26 Apr 2009 @ 07:49

Just leave out the bacon and it should still taste fine.

10. by myra on Sun 29 Mar 2009 @ 15:50

i am vegeterian, what can i use instead of bacon??

11. by Dina Testa on Wed 26 Nov 2008 @ 12:21

you are the greatest cook ever, i love all your recipes..

12. by bella on Sun 23 Nov 2008 @ 07:06

I love every thing u do ilove you jamie so much

13. by samanthacakebread66@hotmail.com on Sat 15 Nov 2008 @ 14:40

made this just excellant but cut it in half or freeze in single servings who loves ya baby

14. by krystal =) on Mon 10 Nov 2008 @ 22:43

hey !!
ur site didnt help at all
i was trying tofind recipes for cooking at school and i couldnt find anything
maybe you should update it with new recipes and stuff ...
thnx
=)

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