Minestrone soup

The retrokitchen is back, with a fancier, ad-free experience and its very own domain:

http://www.retrokitchenblog.com

With Sydney in lockdown, I had to spend my money on something!

 

This is a fabulous recipe.  It’s packed full of goodness and should keep you healthy and slim (ish) during the winter months.

 

Let’s start with the ingredients.

 

1.  A few cloves of garlic:

2.  A medium brown onion:

3.  Bacon (you’ll have to visualise this one!).

4.  Crushed or diced tomatoes (I prefer diced but either is fine):

5.  Small or medium zucchini x 3:

6.  Red capsicum:

7.  Eggplant:

8.  Tomato paste:

9.  Four bean mix:

10.  Penne:

11.  Basil:

12.  Oregano:

13.  Beef stock:

14.  Shaved parmesan:

Now it’s time for some nifty knife work.

Step one – chop garlic:

Step two – chop onion:

Step three – cut bacon into squares / rectangles (or should that be cubes / cuboids? – forgive the imprecision – I did law because I loathed maths):

Step four – slice zucchini thickly (as with the casserole, large pieces are needed so it doesn’t turn to mush while cooking):

Step five – cut and slice capsicum roughly:

Step six – peel and cut eggplant into – you guessed it – squares / rectangles or cubes / cuboids:

Done!  Let’s get cooking!

Step one – in a deep pot, add a dash of oil, add garlic:

Step two – in quick succession, add onion:

Step three – promptly add bacon:

Step four – stir and cook bacon.  Cook until onion starts to soften (is that a verb?).  Unlike other recipes in the retrokitchen, do not allow onion to golden, let alone caramelise :

Step five – add tomatoes.  Fill tin with water and pour water into mixture:

Step six – add zucchini and stir:

Step seven – promptly add capsicum and stir:

Step eight – promptly add eggplant and stir:

Step nine – add pepper, salt, at least 500 ml of hot water (enough almost to cover mixture); then add tomato paste and stir:

Step ten – crumble beef stock in hands, add and stir:

Step eleven – add basil, oregano (and further pepper if desired):

Step twelve – cook for fifteen minutes, stirring occasionally.

Step thirteen – rinse and strain four bean mix, add and stir:

Step fourteen – add more hot water, add penne and stir:

Step fifteen – cook for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Step sixteen – grab a bowl, ladle soup (another imagined verb?) and top with the parmesan cheese.  Serve with your favourite red wine and bread rolls: