James Martin’s Autumn Minestrone Soup
This is a hearty autumn or early winter version of Minestrone Soup served with a lovely homemade pesto. Containing leeks, carrots, smashed spaghetti, bacon lardons, celery, fennel, chard, cabbage and radish, this dish will definitely up your veg quota!
Ingredients
25ml olive oil- 1 leek, sliced
- 1 carrot, diced
- 75g spaghetti, smashed
- 100g bacon lardons
- 250ml water
- 1 celery stick, diced
- 1 fennel top, sliced
- 100g pumpkin, diced
- A few leaves of spring cabbage and chard, shredded
- 15g butter
- 2 radishes, sliced
- Salt and pepper
For the pesto
- 1 large bunch of parsley
- 25g Parmesan, grated
- 100ml olive oil
Method
In a large non-stick frying pan, cook the bacon lardons in the olive oil for 1 to 2 minutes. Then add the leek, carrot and celery and cook for another 2 minutes.- Add the spaghetti and the remaining vegetables, then add the water and cook for 5 minutes.
- To make the pesto, put the olive oil, parsley and Parmesan into a food processor and blitz.
- To finish the soup, season, stir in the pesto and top with radish.