Recipes: Winter minestrone with pesto croûtes

Keep the winter out and warmth in with nutritious minestrone and pesto croûtes

Ingredients

• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 onion , chopped
• 100g unsmoked lardons or chopped streaky bacon
• 2 large carrots , chopped
• 2 sticks celery , chopped
• 1 medium potato , chopped
• 2 garlic cloves , finely chopped or crushed
• 400g can chopped tomatoes
• 1l vegetable stock (from granules or a cube)
• 2 tsp chopped sage leaves, or 1 tsp dried
• few cabbage leaves, shredded
• 400g can haricot beans
• handful chopped parsley

FOR THE PESTO CROUTES

• slices of crusty bread
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tbsp pesto

  

  1. Heat the olive oil in a large pan, add the onion and lardons or bacon and fry for about 5 mins until the onion is starting to brown. Tip in the carrots, celery, potato and garlic, stir well and cook for a few minutes.
  2. Add the tomatoes, stock and sage, and bring to the boil, stirring. Reduce heat to simmer and cook partly covered for 30 mins, stirring in the cabbage after 15 mins. Drain and rinse the beans and add to the pan with the parsley. Season and serve with pesto croûtes, see right, or crusty bread.
  3. For the pesto croûtes: Cut 3-4 slices of crusty bread into chunks, about 2cm thick. Tip into an ovenproof pan. Mix the olive oil and pesto, then add to the bread, tossing it with your hands until the croûtes are evenly coated. Bake in a moderate oven for about 10 mins until crisp.

  Make it vegetarian
  Leave out the bacon and use 100g/4oz sliced chestnut mushrooms instead.
  

  NUTRITION PER SERVING:

  274 kcalories, protein 13g, carbohydrate 28g, fat 13 g, saturated fat 3g, fibre 8g, sugar 12g, salt 2.56 g 

  source: bbcgoodfood.com