E.A.R.T.H.

Vegetable-y Tomato soup

Who doesn't love a good minestrone, apparently also called Italian wedding soup! This is one of my staples, and after you make it will hopefully become one of yours.

This vegan one pot soup is simple, healthy, delicious and can be made oil free. The whole secret of a good tomato soup is simmering, tomatoes just love a good simmering. The vegetables listed are my base but they are rarely the only ones which go in, tonight I added thinly sliced red cabbage, the last one had celery and yellow squashes in. With the beans/lentils, add what you like, you can get great dried italian bean mixes (though soak overnight), I get a nice mix of Puy lentils and freekeh I add and it doesn't need pre-soaking.

What isn't optional though is to serve with some good lightly toasted bread, and olive bread is going to be particularly good. A dollop of pesto on top as you serve the soup is also great.

Ingredients

1 Onion (Chopped in sort of a chunky dice)

1 Carrot (I quarter is lenghways and then cut it into pieces a little smaller than a centimetre.)

1 Zucchini (Also called a courgette. Same as carrot.)

3 cups Pumpkin (Diced into pieces no bigger than an inch. Butternut squash also fine, or even a sweet potato.)

6 cups Stock (Vegetable)

2 cloves Garlic (chopped, maybe 3 cloves if they are small.)

2 cans Tomatoes (375g diced style)

1 1⁄2 teaspoons Basil (dried)

3⁄4 teaspoon Oregano (dried)

1 Bay leaf

Pepper (Black and freshly ground best)

1 teaspoon paprika (Optional)

1 can Mixed Beans (Drained.)

1⁄2 cup Lentils (Any sort, if getting dried then red lentils work best with cooking time.)

1 cup Pasta (I use wholemeal spirals, but whatever you like.)

Info

Yield

6 Servings

Preparation time

10 minutes

Cooking time

35 minutes

Total time

45 minutes

Instructions

Heat the pan to a medium to high heat, water should spit on it
Heat the oil if using and then add the onions
After a minute or so, as the onion becomes translucent stir in the carrots, zucchini and garlic
After another minute or so stir in the pumpkin
After another minute or so (vegetables should be warm) stir in the canned tomato
Add the stock and lentils
Add the herbs and spices and plenty of pepper
Bring to a boil and then simmer covered for 15 minutes (use a timer, such as the one on your phone). The simmering is the key to the whole thing, it should just be oh so slightly bubbling, if it is too high it will overcook the vegetables. Experiment with leaving the lid open a bit to get the simmering just right
Throw in the can of beans and pasta. Again simmering without letting it boil, for a further 15 minutes or until pasta al dente
Taste, adding seasoning to taste, and maybe some chilli if you are that way inclined

Notes

Get a nice big pot for this with a lid. Everyone should have a nice big stock/soup pot, but you can also use an instant cooker etc.

If you won't be eating this all in one go, the pasta can go a little soft on subsequent reheats. You can cook the pasta separately and add as needed, or you can just add the beans, separate out how much soup you want into a smaller pot and cook with the appropriate amount of pasta, doing this addition of pasta each time as you reheat a serving.