Fresh Minestrone Soup

Peel and finely chop the onion and garlic. Cut the core out of the pepper, slice into strips 1cm wide and then chop into small 1cm pieces. Chop the celery and courgette into 1cm pieces and pull your thyme leaves off their stalks. Cut the bacon into strips roughly 1cm wide and roughly chop your cavolo nero.

Heat a saucepan over a medium heat and add 1 tsp of oil and the bacon strips. Cook until crisp and brown on the outside.

Add the thyme leaves, onion, garlic, red pepper and celery to the pan and cook for 4 mins until the vegetables are translucent, then add the courgette and cook for 2 mins more.

Add the bay leaf, boiling stock, chopped tomatoes, cavolo nero, ¼ tsp of salt and a good grind of black pepper. Cook over medium-low heat for 5 mins and then add the pasta and cook for a further 12 mins or until the vegetables are tender and the pasta is al dente. Tip: Pasta is ‘al dente’ when it is soft enough to eat yet has a slight firmness left in the middle.

Drain and rinse the cannellini beans and when the vegetables are soft and the pasta is cooked, add them to the pan. Stir everything together and cook for 1-2 mins more.