Smokey Jo’s Hearty Minestrone Soup Recipe

We love a warming minestrone soup.  This recipe is from Jo’s Mum from her days living in Italy. The trick is to remember the 7p’s – passata, parmesan, potatoes, parsley, pulses, peas and pasta!

A great way to use up leftovers of Christmas Ham

Serves 4

Ingredients

4 x tablespoons Fino Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 x large carrot peeled & diced
2 x celery sticks diced
1 x large onion diced
4 x garlic cloves grated
400ml chicken/ham/turkey/game stock
1/2 x jar of tomato passata or chopped tomatoes
2 bay leaves
A handful of chopped parsley (keep finely chopped stalks separately)
200g Black Mountains Smokery Honey Glazed Free Range Ham
1 x parmesan with rind
100g potatoes peeled & cubed
100g small pasta (macaroni/conchigliette/ditali piccoli)
100g frozen peas
1x tin borlotti beans/cannellini beans

Soften the carrot, celery and onion in a pan with the olive oil. Add the garlic and chopped parsley stalks cook for a few minutes.

Then add passata, stock, parmesan rind, cubed potato and the bay leaves then simmer until potato nearly cooked.

Add the pasta and after 5 minutes the beans and the diced ham, return to simmer adding more stock if needed.

 Finally add the peas and return to simmer by which time they will be cooked.

Finish with parsley and extra grated parmesan and serve with fresh buttered Sourdough bread.