Not Another Food Blog

Ham bone minestrone

This take on everyone’s favourite winter classic has so much love and warmth it could melt an icicle. It takes a little longer to make than your commonly found minestrone recipe but is worth the effort. Packed with vegetables, my version of the soup is cooked with ham bone infused stock, which is heavy and smoky in flavour adding extra depth and richness to the dish. At home we sometimes use smoked pork ribs to cook the stock with so just play with what you find at your local deli or a butcher.

Ingredients
Serves 6-8 people

Stock
1 ham bone (small amount of meat still on)
1,2L water
1L beef stock
1/2L vegetable stock
few celery leaves
parsley stalks (from one bunch of parsley)
1 tbs oregano leaves

3 medium potatoes, peeled, diced into cubes
1 large carrot, peeled and diced
8-10 button mushrooms, sliced
1 zucchini, diced
½ red capsicum, diced
1 celery stick, diced
4 cloves garlic, chopped
1 medium onion, diced finely
1 long red chilli, seedless and finely diced
2 tbs chopped parsley
1 tsp chopped oregano
400g diced tomatoes, you can use canned
1 can Borlotti beans, drained and rinsed
200g dry pasta, Conchiglie or other small shell variety
1 tbsp tomato paste
3 bay leaves
1 tsp sweet paprika
2 rashers bacon, fat trimmed and diced
olive oil
sea salt
pepper

1. Place all stock ingredients in a large saucepan and bring to boil. Turn the heat down to medium and cook semi-covered for 40 mins.
2. While the stock is cooking, prepare all other ingredients. Heat up few tablespoons of olive oil in a pan and sauté onions for 2-3 minutes, add chilli, celery and paprika and cook for a couple of minutes. Then add carrots and cook for further 2-3 minutes.
3. 40 minutes later take the ham bone and herbs out of the stock, put the bone aside to cool. Add sauteed vegetables, potatoes, bay leaves, garlic, diced tomatoes and tomato paste to liquid and bring back to boil. Turn down the heat to medium and cook uncovered for 25 minutes, letting the stock reduce a little.
4. While the soup is cooking, pre-cook the pasta until it is almost al dente. Drain and put aside with some of the soup liquid to prevent it from sticking together.
5. Fry bacon it until crisp in a pan with some olive oil.
6. Now that the soup’s been on for about 25 minutes, add mushrooms, capsicum, zucchinis and cracked pepper. Cook for 7-10 minutes, taste and add some salt to season if needed. I’ve added about ½ teaspoon for mine. Finally, add bacon, pasta and fresh herbs. Cook for 1 more minute, turn the heat off, cover and let sit for 5 minutes before serving.
7. Grill or toast some nice Italian bread and rub it with a garlic clove. Serve soup in a ball with a good sprinkle of Parmesan cheese and fresh parsley.