Winter warmer minestrone with fregola pasta

What better way to warm body and spirit in this cold weather than with a hearty minestrone.  The beauty of this soup is that it can be adapted to what’s in season and what’s in the cupboard.  I usually include the traditional borlotti or cannellini beans as I like their softness, however on this occasion I only had tinned chick peas in the cupboard and this worked fine. The addition of Sardinian toasted fregola pasta gives  a lovely nutty texture. Serves 4.

150g  cannellini, borlotti beans or chickpeas fresh from the tin or dried and soaked overnight if you have the time

4 rashers of pancetta or smoke bacon, chopped

1 large onion, chopped

2 garlic cloves, crushed

2 celery stalks, roughly chopped

3 medium carrots, roughly chopped

200g chard, cavolo nero, kale or savoy cabbage chopped

2 turnips, peeled and chopped into cubes

4 sage leaves

handful of parsley stalks, chopped

1 bay leaf

1.5 litres of chicken or vegetable stock

1 tblsp of sundried tomato puree

A glug of red wine

6 tablespoons extra virgin oil

1  rind from portion of parmesan cheese

55g fregola pasta

sea salt and pepper

To Make:

Add all of the roughly chopped vegetables and herbs and pancetta or bacon, except the chard or cavolo nero,  into a pan with the olive oil and sweat on a low heat with the lid ajar for 10 mins.  Add the beans, stock, tomato puree, wine, the cavolo nero and finally the rind from the parmesan (this will add flavour and thickness) give it all a good stir and simmer for a further 20 mins. Finally, add the pasta and continue to simmer until cooked (15 minutes for toasted fregola). Done.

Serve with pecorino sardo or parmesan cheese finely grated on top and some toasted ciabatta.