Classic minestrone

I have always thought that the distinctive taste of minestrone soup is from beef stock. I only realised that it is actually the bacon that gives it that wonderful flavour when I cooked it yesterday. First chop up 3 bacon rashers and fry it in butter and olive oil for 3-4 minutes. Leave the juices in the pan and add 1 large onion finely chopped, 1 garlic clove finely chopped, 1 celery stick finely chopped and 2 carrots finely chopped. Add one ingredient at a time, stirring well after each addition. Cover and cook gently for 8-10 minutes until the vegetables are softened. Add 1 can of chopped tomatoes, 1.1 litre of stock,bring to the boil, cover the saucepan, reduce the heat and simmer gently for 20 minutes. Stir in 175g of finely shredded green cabbage, 50 g of french beans, trimmed and halved and 50 g of spaghetti pieces. Cover and simmer for another 20 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Return the bacon to the soup, bring it the boil and serve with crusty bread.

M's verdict: 8/10
N's verdict: 8/10

M really likes the soup, she said that it was extremely savoury, full of the taste of the various vegetables. Of course, she may be biased as she had the soup at 3am, having had no dinner previously. I enjoyed the soup as well, and at least in my view, it did taste exactly like minestrone soup. The recipe requires 3 tbsp of peas as well but as M abhors peas, it's not in my cooking. So if you like them, by all means add them.