Rug up with a bowl of hearty minestrone soup, served with garlic bread toast and topped with basil oil. This is the perfect way to get your veggies in on a cold winter's night.
Minestrone soup is a wonderful recipe to make in the depths of a cold winter and early spring. It warms you right up from the inside! And this minestrone soup has a few special ingredients that you might not find in other minestrone soup recipes, but make it taste incredibly flavoursome.
What makes this Minestrone Soup Recipe so special?
Homemade basil oil - we'll make fresh home made basil oil which complements the tomato flavours in the soup and gives an extra layer of flavour.
Garlic bread - we'll make our own garlic bread with sourdough toast to dip into the soup. The garlicky bread is slathered with butter and salt and is so moreish.
Vinegars and sauces - we will use soy sauce, miso paste, balsamic and white vinegar in the soup stock to add saltiness and acidity, which enhance the flavour of the vegetables.
What Ingredients do I need for this Minestrone Soup recipe?
Aromatics - olive oil, lemon zest, garlic, brown onion, oregano, thyme, dried coriander and salt.
Vegetables - Baby spinach, basil, carrot, zucchini.
Liquids - vegetable stock and diced tomatoes.
Sauces - miso paste, light soy sauce, balsamic vinegar, white wine vinegar - these all add a huge amount of salty and acidic flavours that enhance the flavour profile of the soup.
Pasta - use macaroni or a short pasta. Use gluten free versions if required.
Basil oil - basil (use everything except for hard stalks), olive oil, lemon juice and salt.
Garlic bread - good quality sourdough bread, garlic cloves (cut against the face of the clove), butter (sub with dairy free butter or olive oil) and salt.
What is the thickening agent for minestrone soup?
The macaroni pasta will thicken the soup, because we cook the pasta in the soup itself, it will release starch into the soup which will thicken it.
This is why it's really important to add the vinegars to the soup - the acid in the vinegar will counter any starchy flavour from the pasta that we don't want too much of.
How is minestrone soup different from vegetable soup?
In short, pasta is the key difference between minestrone soup and vegetable soup. Vegetable soup doesn't have any pasta in it, and for this reason is often thinner.
In my version of minestrone soup, we also add basil oil and garlic bread.
Top tips when making this Minestrone Soup recipe
The pasta will keep cooking in the hot soup, even after you take it off the stove, so make sure you cook it 2 minutes less than recommended on the packet.
Substitutions
- Gluten free - swap sourdough bread for good quality gluten free bread, macaroni pasta for the gluten free version and soy sauce for tamari.
- Dairy free - instead of butter use dairy free butter or olive oil on the garlic bread.
Kid-Friendly Variations
- Kids may prefer no basil oil, no garlic on their toast and for their toast to be sliced into fingers.
Equipment
You will need a large stock pot or casserole pot, a small food processor or blender and a toaster.
More Soup Recipes
- Chicken Dumpling Soup
- Chicken and Corn Soup - this one always gets so much love! It's an eggdrop type soup.
- Creamy Tomato Tortellini Soup
- Roast Pumpkin Soup with Sage
Recipe
Minestrone with Basil Oil and Garlic Toast
Ingredients
- 2 Carrots
- 1 Brown Onion
- 2 cloves Garlic
- 2 Zucchinis
- 1 Lemon
- 2 tablespoon Olive oil
- Lemon zest
- 1 tsp Dried oregano leaves
- 1 tsp Dried thyme
- ½ tsp Ground coriander
- 1 pinch Salt and pepper
- 800 g Diced tomatoes 2 X 400g can
- 2 tablespoon Balsamic vinegar
- 1 tablespoon Apple cider vinegar Sub white wine vinegar
- 1 l Vegetable stock
- 1 tablespoon White miso paste
- 2 tablespoon Soya sauce
- 2 cups Macaroni Or other short pasta
- ½ bunch Basil
- ½ Lemon juice
- 1 pinch Salt
- 4 slices Sourdough bread
- 1 clove Garlic
- 20 g Butter
- 120 g Spinach Baby
Instructions
- Peel and dice carrot, peel and chop onion, peel and chop garlic, and dice zucchini. Zest lemon.2 Carrots, 1 Brown Onion, 2 cloves Garlic, 2 Zucchinis, 1 Lemon
- Add olive oil to a large stock pot or flame-proof casserole dish, and put over high heat. Cook onion, garlic and lemon zest until onion is soft, about 3-4 minutes.1 Brown Onion, 2 cloves Garlic, 2 tablespoon Olive oil, Lemon zest
- Add dried oregano, thyme and coriander, and salt and pepper, and stir.1 teaspoon Dried oregano leaves, 1 teaspoon Dried thyme, ½ teaspoon Ground coriander, 1 pinch Salt and pepper
- Add canned tomatoes and balsamic vinegar and apple cider vinegar (sub white wine vinegar), and stir.800 g Diced tomatoes, 2 tablespoon Balsamic vinegar, 1 tablespoon Apple cider vinegar
- Add vegetable stock, miso paste, soy sauce, carrot and macaroni pasta, stir and cook for 8-10 minutes (depending on how long the pasta takes to cook.2 Carrots, 1 l Vegetable stock, 1 tablespoon White miso paste, 2 tablespoon Soya sauce, 2 cups Macaroni
- In a small food processor, chopper or blender add basil, olive oil, juice the lemon directly into the processor, add salt, and blitz until as smooth as you can get it.2 tablespoon Olive oil, ½ bunch Basil, ½ Lemon juice, 1 pinch Salt
- Toast bread. Slice a garlic clove in half and rub the cut side against the toast, then butter the bread (and sprinkle over salt if you want).4 slices Sourdough bread, 1 clove Garlic, 20 g Butter
- Check the pasta in the stock pot, and as soon as it is almost cooked, mix spinach and zucchini through it. Once spinach has wilted, take the pot off the heat.120 g Spinach, 2 Zucchinis
- To serve, ladle minestrone into a bowl, drizzle over basil oil and add a slice of garlic toast. Yum.
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