Spring minestrone
The bright and beautiful colours of spring are caught in a bowl of seasonal vegetables that are infinitely variable: try thin asparagus, sweetcorn, baby green beans, cherry tomatoes, baby turnips, golden beets, broccolini.
Ingredients
100g small soup pasta, e.g. stelline (little stars)
2 leeks, trimmed
2 celery stalks
6 baby carrots
1 green and 1 yellow zucchini
3 tbsp extra virgin
olive oil
1.2L chicken or vegetable stock or water, boiling
500g broad beans, shelled
100g shelled peas
Sea salt and pepper
Freshly shaved parmesan or pecorino
2 tbsp pesto
Method
Cook the pasta in boiling salted water until tender. Rinse in cold water, drain and set aside. Finely slice the leeks. Cut the celery in half lengthwise then finely slice. Peel, trim and slice the carrots and cut the zucchini into fine dice.
Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan and cook the leeks and celery until soft. Add the carrots and toss well. Add the boiling stock, and simmer for 15 minutes. Meanwhile, cook the broad beans and peas for 5 mins in simmering salted water, drain and refresh. Peel the broad beans.
Add the zucchini, broad beans, peas and pasta to the soup and simmer for a further 5 or 10 mins, keeping the colours bright. Season with salt and pepper and ladle into shallow pasta bowls.
To serve
Spoon a little pesto into each bowl and scatter with cheese.
This recipe is featured in the book, Spring which is available now in all good bookstores RRP $34.95. To order direct call 1300 656 059 or visit www.smh.com.au/store
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Jill Dupleix is a Good Food contributor and reviewer who writes the Know-How column.
