Despite what the weather may look like right now, it is in fact spring and for those of us that spending our sundays cooking up a storm, it means fresh new batches of recipes to put on rotation.
Where better to start than the classic minestrone soup? Packed with veggies, pasta, beans, and plenty of nutrients, this soup is the perfect healthy lunch that’ll leave you feeling satiated for hours.
That being said... what if we improved it with an ingredient that the culinary queen herself, Mary Berry, swears by?
While Mary sticks to most of the traditional ingredients in this recipe and makes the most of spring vegetables, she does have one extra ingredient she likes to add and, to be honest, I wish I’d known sooner.
That’s because Mary uses no other than a good ol’ dollop of pesto to round off her minestrone soup! Imagine that combined with the flavour we know and love?! My mouth is watering thinking of it, honestly.
Mary Berry’s minestrone soup recipe
As featured on Saturday Kitchen, this soup will keep for two months in the freezer and, according to the BBC, each serving provides 220kcal, 4.5g protein, 16g carbohydrate (of which 8g sugars), 14g fat (of which 4g saturates), 4g fibre and 2.2g salt.
Ingredients:
3 tbsp olive oil
40g/1½oz butter
2 large onions, finely chopped
1 leek, halved lengthways and thinly sliced
250g/9oz potatoes, peeled and finely chopped
3 sticks celery, finely chopped
150g/5oz savoy cabbage
2 litres/3½ pints beef or vegetable stock
400g/14oz can Italian chopped tomatoes
salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 tbsp green basil pesto
- Heat the oil and butter in a large pan. Add onions, leek and potatoes and cook for about five minutes, until starting to soften, stirring from time to time. Add the celery and cook for a few minutes more
- Meanwhile cut the half cabbage in quarters. Remove central stalk from cabbage and discard. Cut leaves across the wedge shape in short shreds
- Pour stock and can of tomatoes into the pan with the cabbage. Bring to the boil and gently simmer for about 30 mins
- Add pesto for the last 5 mins, and check the seasoning before serving.
I know what I’m having for lunch every single day for the foreseeable.