Minestrone Toscana (Tuscan Minestrone Soup) is a traditional Italian recipe for a classic soup of mixed vegetables and beans in a tomato and chicken stock base that's finished with short pieces of macaroni or spaghetti. The full recipe is presented here and I hope you enjoy this classic Italian version of: Tuscan Minestrone Soup (Minestrone Toscana).
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Ingredients:
50g butter
100g streaky bacon rashers
1 medium onion, peeled and chopped
2 large carrots, scraped and diced
1 garlic clove, crushed
225g white cabbage, finely shredded
225g French beans or sliced courgettes
1.4l chicken stock (or water)
400g tin of chopped plum tomatoes
2 tbsp tomato purée
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp finely-chopped basil
65g short macaroni (or spaghetti broken into short lengths)
salt and freshly-ground black pepper, to taste
freshly-grated Parmesan cheese
Method:
Melt half the butter in a large, heavy-based pan. Remove the rinds from the bacon then chop the rashers into dice. Add these to the pan and fry until they render their fat and become almost crisp.
Stir in the onion and cook for about 6 minutes, or until pale golden brown. Add the remaining butter then stir in the carrots, garlic and cabbage. Cover the pan with a round of buttered paper cut to shape and allow the vegetables to sweat down gently for 10 minutes, shaking the pan occasionally to prevent them from sticking.
Remove the paper then add the beans (or courgettes) along with the stock, tomatoes (and their juice), tomato purée, sugar and basil. Bring to a simmer then partly cover the pan and cook for 45 minutes. After this time add the pasta and season the soup liberally. Continue simmering, partially covered, for about 45 minutes more.
Now stir in a rounded tablespoon of freshly-grated Parmesan. Adjust the seasonings to taste then ladle into warmed soup bowls and serve with plenty of crusty bread and freshly-grated Parmesan cheese.
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