MINESTRONE WITH PECORINO AND PARSLEY

You can add pancetta or bacon at the start if you wish. Serves four to six

INGREDIENTS

1 large brown onion

(any onion, or use fennel, or top up on the other veg)

Butter, for frying 2 garlic cloves

(purée or powder is fine, or omit)

2 carrots

(or more onion, celery and leek)

2 celery sticks

(or more onion, carrot and leek)

1 leek

(or more onion, carrot and celery)

200g potato

(can be omitted)

2 vine tomatoes

(any fresh tomato, or add 1 tsp tomato purée with the garlic)

400g can of cannellini beans

(or any cooked beans)

80g cavolo nero

(or any leafy green, such as spinach, cabbage, kale)

1 litre chicken stock

(or any stock, but chicken is best)

150g dried pasta

(any shape of dried pasta; fresh pasta is also fine, but add only 2 minutes before end of cooking)

10g parsley

(or any fresh herb, or lemon zest and a squeeze of juice)

40g pecorino

(or any hard cheese, or a dollop of mascarpone)

Extra virgin olive oil, for drizzling

METHOD

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

GOES WELL WITH

Garlic-rubbed toast.

LEFTOVERS

Tear any leftover garlicky

toast into leftover minestrone and turn the soup

into a ribollita.