veg minestrone soup in the slow cooker

[Tanya]

So I am making a minestrone soup and I want to make it in the slow cooker. I bought a pack of dried lentils in a minestrone soup pack and I want to know how I do it.

I really have NO IDEA!! LOL

[Phteven]

I'm sure you've found a recipe by now but this is the one I use....
It's to serve 10 but you can halve the recipe or freeze the leftovers.
If you can make the soup the day before you want to serve it it will be extra yummy.
Since you have to soak the beans overnight it's a real slow food recipe.
I think that you would need to use tinned beans in the slow cooker because the beans need to boil to soften. This is a stove top recipe but you could just tweak the times and reduce the liquid a tad for the S.C.

Genoese Minestrone

Ingredients

• 150g small white beans soaked overnight (you could use other beans or substitute a tin)
• 3 tbsp olive oil - yep, 3 of them
• 2 medium onions finely chopped
• 2 large cloves of crushed garlic
• 1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh marjoram or 1 teaspoon dried
• 1 teaspoon finely chopped fresh thyme or 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
• 400g can of pureed or diced italian tomatoes
• 3 litres of light stock or vegetable water (if you use stock cubes use 1 cube in 3 liters of water)
• 2 peeled carrots finely sliced
• 2 sticks of celery finely sliced
• 2 medium potatoes peeled and diced (try to use a waxy one because they don't crumble so much - unless you like crumbled potatoes)
• 400g (3 cups) peeled, chopped pumpkin
• 250g (2 cups) cauliflower florets chopped
• 2 green or yellow zuccinni cut into thick rounds
• salt
• 6 silverbeet leaves or a bunch of spinach (about 150g) chopped
• 100 grams grated parmesan cheese (if you grate it yourself keep the rind)
• 2 tablespoons pesto (or 2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh basil but pesto is better)

The recipe calls for bacon but I have never used it. If you want to use it chop it finely and add it with the onion.

Method
Soak the beans overnight. Drain and rinse them.
Next day heat the olive oil in a large saucepan and drop in the garlic and onion.
Cook gently until the onion is softened but not brown.
Add the marjoram and thyme and cook for one minute more the add the tomatoes, drained beans and stock.
Bring to the boil, partially cover with a lid and simmer for gently for 1-2 hours or until the beans are tender.
Add the carrots and celery and bring back to a gentle boil and simmer for 20 minutes.
Add the potatoes, pumpkin, caulifower and zuccini and 1 teaspoon of salt (or less if you're not a salt lover).
Bring back to the boil and cook gently for about 30 minutes until the veges are very tender.
Lastly add the silverbeet or spinach and simmer for for 15 minutes.
Check the seasoning and add more salt or some pepper if needed.

(If you aren't eating immediately cool the soup quickly by putting it in a sink of cold water then refrigerate.
Reheat over a gentle heat)

Before serving swirl in parmesan cheese and spoon the pesto over the top.

If you have parmesan rinds you can cut them into chunks and cook them into the soup so you get gooey cheesey lumps - you need to reduce the salt a bit. The rinds take a long time to melt so you need to put them in early.

[luna moth]

If you have parmesan rinds you can cut them into chunks and cook them into the soup so you get gooey cheesey lumps - you need to reduce the salt a bit. The rinds take a long time to melt so you need to put them in early.

I used to love making parmesan stock and using it in my minestrone or pumpkin soup. Makes it so much richer. Sometimes I miss cheese.