Recipe for the month of January 2018 by our Nutritionist, Nicky Seabrook

January 08th, 2018

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Minestrone Soup with rice (Delia Smith’s recipe)

As Delia says so herself, this soup is really a meal in itself and is great if you are avoiding gluten.

 

Ingredients

8oz leeks

2 sticks of celery, washed and finely chopped

175g carrots washed and finely chopped

175g cabbage washed and shredded

2 tomatoes fresh or tinned

1 medium onion finely chopped

50g streaky bacon chopped

1 tblsp. Butter

1 tblsp Olive oil

1 clove garlic

1.5 litres of home made chicken stock (or using stock cubes)

1tsp dried basil

2 tblsp rice

1 dessert spoon tomato puree

2 tblsps chopped  parsley

Salt and pepper

Lots of grated parmesan to serve with it.

 

Method

First heat up the butter and oil in a large saucepan, then add the bacon and cook this for a minute or two before adding the onion, followed by the celery and carrots and then the tomatoes, also chopped. Now stir in the crushed garlic and some salt and pepper.

Cover and cook gently for 20 minutes or so to allow the vegetables to sweat – giving them an occasional stir to prevent them sticking.

Then pour in the stock along with the basil. Continue to simmer gently, (covered) for about 1 hour. After that add the leeks, cabbage and rice and cook for a further 30 minutes.

Finally stir in the tomato puree, cook for another 10 minutes and just before serving stir in the parsley. Serve in warmed bowls and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.

 

Nutritional Notes

This soup contains several nutritious vegetables high in carotenoids; leeks which are a rich source of prebiotics; and cabbage which is recognised as being a particularly important plant food in the prevention against cancer.

 

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