Borlotti bean minestrone

The finished product

We have had a tin of borlotti beans in the press for the last while. They were inherited when some friends moved house and cleared out their kitchen. We weren't really sure what to do with them, so I took a look on the web to see if I could get any ideas. A lot of the recipes that I found used them with tomatoes, garlic and olive oil, so I decided to make a minestrone.

First put a good glug of olive oil in a cast iron pot on a medium heat. I used some nice Greek stuff that I got in Aldi. Next you need to soften some finely chopped vegetables over a medium heat to make the soup base. I used a couple of carrots, onions and celery sticks, but I reckon you could vary that easily enough. About 20 minutes should be plenty to soften these.  

Then throw in the tin of rinsed borlotti beans, a tin of whole plum tomatoes and a litre of vegetable stock. Season with salt, pepper and plenty of fresh rosemary. I blanched and froze some chard from the garden earlier this week and so I added this to the pot. Cabbage is more common, but any boilable green leafy vegetable would be fine. Let this all simmer for about 20 minutes.

That's it done except for the pasta. This is best left until you are ready to eat. If you add the pasta too early and leave it to sit it will keep sucking up liquid and you will end up with a soggy mess. I used wholewheat spaghetti which I broke into chunks 3 or 4 inches long and threw them but pretty much any pasta will work. About one normal main meal portion of pasta is fine for these quantities. Just keep the pot bubbling until the pasta is cooked and you are ready to go. 

This fed both of us well for our main meal. It would be a very nice lunch or starter in a smaller portion. This is very healthy stuff. The only things to watch are that you don't over do it with the oil and that your stock is not too salty.