Kids’ minestrone soup
Method
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Kid’s job: Chop all of the vegetables into tiny pieces, as small as you can (you can leave the peas whole). You can use your fingers, or a salad knife (with an adults help) or use clean child-friendly scissors to chop the herbs, cabbage and spring onions.
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Adult’s job: Heat a large saucepan and add a teaspoon of olive oil or butter. Gently fry the spring onion or leek for five minutes, stirring often.
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Adult’s job: Add the garlic, the rest of the vegetables, dried herbs and tomato puree and stir for a minute.
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Adult’s job: Add the tinned tomatoes and stock and bring to the boil.
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Adult’s job: Add the pasta and any meat or beans you want to use and cook for 8 more minutes.
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Kid’s job:Get your grown up to spoon a little of the soup into a small bowl for you and let it cool a little. Have a taste and see what you think…if you like you can add a squeeze of lemon juice, a little sugar or some black pepper.
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Adult’s job: spoon into bowls to serve. You can either sprinkle herbs on top or put them in a small bowl on the table for the kids to taste first. The soup is great served with chunky bread.
Ingredients
- 1 tsp olive oil or butter, for frying
- 2 spring onions or a small leek
- 1 carrot
- handful peas (frozen or fresh)
- small handful green beans (frozen or fresh)
- couple of cabbage leaves (any type of cabbage, kale, spinach or greens will do)
- 1 garlic clove, finely chopped by an adult
- 1 tsp dried oregano, basil or thyme or mixed dried herbs
- 1 tsp tomato purée
- 1 x 400g/14oz tin chopped tomatoes
- 1 x 400g/14oz tin cannellini beans
- 2 rashers cooked back bacon or ham, chopped (optional)
- 600ml/20fl oz reduced-salt vegetable stock
- 30g/1oz dried small pasta such as orzo, stars, alphabet shapes or broken dried spaghetti
- small bunch fresh basil or parsley, chopped
- lemon juice, to taste
- sugar, to taste
- freshly ground black pepper
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Kids’ minestrone soup
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