Marie Yuncken, from All Saint’s Floreat Uniting Church, shares her warm and hearty minestrone soup recipe, which she enjoyed with friends as COVID-19 restrictions eased.
“We were so missing our friends and family to chat with face-to-face during the early tight lockdown,” Marie said. “Telephone, Zoom and WhatsApp were great, but not the same as sitting across the table to catch-up. We needed to see friends.
“The weather was beautiful, warm and sunny at the time when we were allowed to have two people with two square metres each in our homes or outside. So people came and shared soup and crusty bread every other day. We sat at the outside table and talked for a couple of hours. It was really valuable time shared together.”
Ingredients
2 carrots
2 stalks of celery
2 onions
2 cloves of garlic
3 rashers of bacon
2 tbsp olive oil
400g canned tomatoes in juice
¼ cup tomato paste
6 cups hot water
4 chicken stock cubes
1 bouquet of garni
310g canned red kidney beans
Salt and pepper
1 cup of macaroni elbows
Parmesan cheese
Method
Heat oil in a large saucepan and sauté the chopped vegetables and bacon for 10 minutes.
Chop tomatoes and add to the saucepan with the tomato paste, water, stock cubes and garni. Bring to the boil and simmer for 20 minutes or until the carrots are tender.
Drain the kidney beans and add to the saucepan. Add macaroni elbows and cook for 10 mins. Season with salt and pepper and garnish with parmesan cheese.
If the soup is too thick, add extra stock.