Syn-free minestrone soup in a hurry tonight, and that’s very fitting indeed because I have to get the blog done, get washed and showered and dressed all before our taxi gets here at 7.30pm. I wish I could say we were off to do something exciting but good lord, we’re going to play bingo in Ashington. If you’re not familiar with Ashington, just picture Aleppo but with more B&M outlets. It’s a safe bet that I’ll be mugged, but all bets are off as to whether it’ll be by the taxi driver, the smokers outside the entrance doors or the old biddies feeding their pensions into the lobby slots. Wish me luck!
Now this syn-free minestrone soup looks like it’ll be a pain in the arse but it’s ridiculously easy, although I’ve taken some liberties with the recipe. The recipe this is cribbed from (Delia Smith) has you sweating vegetables and taking your time. Balls to that: this is soup in a hurry. This makes enough for four big bowls of soup.
Ours looks a bit oily because we didn’t cut the fat off the bacon. Because we’re decadent.
to make syn-free minestrone soup in a hurry, you’ll need:
- 100g of bacon medallions (see note below)
- one large onion (see note below)
- two stalks of celery (see note below)
- 150g of carrots (peeled) (see note below)
- 2 large tomatoes, ripe
- 1 clove of garlic (minced)
- two leeks (see note below)
- handful of spring greens
- 75g of pasta (little macaroni is best, but we only add proper size)
- 1.5 litres of chicken stock
- 1 tablespoon of tomato puree
top tips for syn-free minestrone soup:
- you really don’t need to worry about exact amounts of things – and you can take out or add in whatever vegetables you want
- the onion, celery, carrots, leeks and bacon need to be chopped fine – either get yourself a good knife and some wrist pain or do what I did and chuck it all in the food processor and pulse it – there’s no need for uniform pieces, just get them into small chunks
- you’ll get all the lean bacon you need AND MORE in our excellent Musclefood packages! We’ve got a deal for any budget, or make your bundle of the stuff you use most often!
- a Microplane grater makes easy work of that garlic – get yours here!
- looking for an oil sprayer – we recommend this one
to make syn-free minestrone soup in a hurry, you should:
- spritz a heavy-duty pan with oil, heat to medium and chuck your chopped onion, bacon, minced garlic, celery, leek and carrot chunks in on a medium heat with a splash of water – allow to sweat a little
- add a good pinch of salt and pepper and continue to let them sweat for a good twenty minutes or so, giving it a bit of a stir every now and then so it doesn’t stick
- add your hot stock, bring to the boil and then allow to simmer gently for a good hour
- once the hour is done, add the macaroni, spring greens if you’re using, and cook uncovered for another ten minutes or so until the pasta is cooked
- serve in bowls topped with your healthy extra allowance of Parmesan and lots of black pepper
Easy! Want more soups?
- golden barley and lentil soup (syn free)
- super speed soup (syn free)
- leek, potato and cheddar soup (less than 1 syn)
- tomato and rice soup (0.1-5 syns)
- curried pumpkin soup (less than 1.5 syns)
- cheeseburger soup (0.5 syns)
- cabbage, kidney bean and sausage soup (1 syn)
- kale, spinach and broccoli and pesto soup (1.5 syns)
- onion soup (2 syns)
- hot and sour soup (0.5 syns)
- spicy carrot and coconut soup (2 syns)
- gazpacho (1.5 syns)
- pea and coconut soup (1.5 syns)
J