Food & Wine
Smoky minestrone soup
The smoked paprika in this soup intensifies the tomato colour and creates a lovely smoky undertone. If you can't find thick-cut pancetta, regular thinly sliced pancetta will create the same flavour. For a vegetarian version, use vegetable stock and omit the pancetta.
Serves: Six to eight
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons ghee or olive oil
- 4 x 1cm-thick slices pancetta (about 200g ), cut into chunks
- 2 carrots, cut into roughly 1cm cubes
- 1 red onion, finely chopped
- 2 sticks celery, finely chopped
- 2 teaspoons sweet smoked paprika
- 2 teaspoons fennel seed, ground in a mortar and pestle
- 400g (1 bunch) rainbow chard or silverbeet, shredded
- 4 cloves garlic, crushed
- 2 sprigs fresh herbs (thyme, rosemary or sage), leaves chopped finely
- 1 large glass red wine
- 400g can chopped tomatoes
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 400g can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
- 1½ litres (6 cups) chicken bone broth or stock
- Shaved parmesan to serve (optional)
Method:
- Heat ghee or oil in a large, heavy-based pot and fry the pancetta for 3 minutes. Add carrots, red onion, celery, paprika and ground fennel seed and gently fry for 10 minutes.
- Add chard, garlic and half the chopped herbs. Stir for a couple of minutes then add wine, tomatoes and salt. Bring to a simmer and cook for 10 minutes.
- Add beans and broth. Bring back to the boil, cover and simmer for 30 minutes.
- Check seasoning and stir in remaining herbs. Serve topped with shaved parmesan if desired.
Have you ever tried a dish like this?
Written by Andrew McKenna. First appeared on Stuff.co.nz.