Preparation time
less than 30 mins
Cooking time
10 to 30 mins
Serves
Serves 4
Dietary
Vegetarian
Equipment and preparation: you will need a pressure cooker and a pestle and mortar
From Saturday Kitchen
Ingredients
For the soup
- 50ml/2fl oz extra virgin olive oil
- 500g/1lb 2oz smoked streaky bacon, roughly chopped
- dash sherry vinegar
- 2 large red onions, roughly chopped
- 5 carrots, cut into 1cm/½in cubes
- 5 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
- half head of celery, cut into 1cm/½in pieces
- 1 large leek, cut into 1cm/½in pieces
- 2 large waxy potatoes, cut into 1cm/½in cubes
- 6 plum tomatoes, roughly chopped
- ½ bunch fresh rosemary, tied with string
- ½ bunch fresh thyme, tied with string
- 130g/4¾oz small orecchiette pasta
- 2 litres/3½ pints good-quality beef stock
- 1 x 400g tin cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
- 16 small florets of purple sprouting broccoli
- 100g/3½oz baby leaf spinach
- salt and freshly ground black pepper
For the wild garlic pesto
- 15g/½oz roughly chopped fresh basil, leaves only
- 15g/½oz roughly chopped wild garlic leaf
- 50g/1¾oz pine nuts
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- 15g/½oz Parmesan cheese (or alternative vegetarian hard cheese), finely grated
- 5ml/1 tsp lemon juice, to taste
- salt and freshly ground black pepper
To serve
- small handful fresh basil, roughly chopped
- small handful fresh flatleaf parsley, roughly chopped
- small handful fresh chives, snipped
- 100g/3½oz Parmesan (or alternative vegetarian hard cheese), finely grated
- olive oil, for drizzling
- 1 loaf crusty bread, cut into four pieces
Method
For the soup, heat the oil in a heavy-based saucepan over a high heat. Add the bacon, then season and fry for 3–4 minutes, until caramelising but not burning. De-glaze the pan with the sherry vinegar. Add the red onions, carrots, garlic, celery and leek and cook for 8–10 minutes, or until softened.
Stir in the potatoes and tomatoes, then add the rosemary and thyme. Squash the tomatoes with a wooden spoon. Bring the pan to a simmer.
Heat the beef stock in a saucepan over a high heat. Add the pasta to the vegetables. Once the stock is simmering, pour this in too.
Pour the soup into the pressure cooker (CAUTION: Please follow the manufacturer’s guidelines for safe use of your pressure cooker). Bring up to pressure and cook for 5 minutes at pressure. Turn off the heat and slowly release the pressure. Remove the rosemary and thyme and discard, then stir in the cannellini beans, broccoli and spinach and allow to soften in the residual heat for 5 minutes.
Meanwhile, to make the pesto, grind the basil and wild garlic in a mortar with a pestle or food processor to release the natural oils. Then, add the pine nuts and grind. Once combined, add the olive oil to make a paste and grind in the Parmesan. Add a squeeze of lemon and season to taste.
To serve, pour into soup bowls and sprinkle over the fresh herbs, parmesan, wild garlic pesto and olive oil. Serve with crusty bread.
