A: Souper Sunday!

(or clear- out- your- crisper- and- make- something- before- everything- goes- yuck- day)

Generally I make minestrone when faced with an emergency vegetable glut. It’s relatively quick, fail-proof, versatile and freezes quite well.

Won’t bother with a detailed method. Basically it’s:

1. Chop up your vegetables.

2. Fry the ones that take the longest to cook first in olive oil+butter (e.g. carrot, garlic, chillies, silverbeet stems), adding other vegetables according to the amount of time they take to cook (e.g. zucchini, cauliflower and lastly the silverbeet leaves).

3. Add enough water to cover, tinned tomatoes if desired, stock powder (or just use stock), lots of seasoning and bring to a boil. Simmer for 15-30 minutes.

4. Add pasta 10 minutes before the end of cooking time.

Serve with lots of extra virgin olive oil, shaved parmesan and freshly ground black pepper.

I tend to save my parmesan rinds and use these when making minestrone. I can’t remember where I read this tip but it really does flavour the soup beautifully.

Lunch for 2 plus 5 emergency meals in the freezer. Bargain!