Green Minestrone or Sopa Menestron
An Original Recipe by Lorraine Elliott
Preparation time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 1 hour 15 minutes
- 800g/28ozs. beef brisket, flank or chuck, cut into pieces
- 2.5 litres/5.3pints beef stock
- Oil for frying
- 4 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
- 1 brown onion, peeled and chopped
- 2 sweet potatoes or potatoes, peeled and cubed
- 1 cup pasta
- 1.5 cups peas
- 8 leaves wombok or napa cabbage, cut into smaller pieces
- 400g/14ozs. tin cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 cup basil leaves
- 3 cups baby spinach
- 1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
- Persian feta, chilli sauce and toasted bread to serve
Notes on beef: I used brisket and put it whole in the pressure cooker for 1 hour. If you don't have a pressure cooker I'd recommend using flank or chuck as brisket takes a while to cook. You can cut up the beef into chunks to hasten the cooking time.
Step 1 - Cook the beef pieces in the beef stock-40 minutes in the pressure cooker/instant pot will do if they're cut into pieces or 60 minutes as a whole piece. Remove the beef and the stock and skim the stock. Switch to saute and heat the oil and fry the garlic and onion until fragrant.
Step 2 - Add 2.5 litres of beef flavoured stock back into the pressure cooker or instant pot and add the potatoes or sweet potatoes and simmer for 10 minutes. Then add the pasta and cook for 5 minutes (the pasta will continue to absorb liquid). Add the peas, cabbage and beans. Alternatively, boil the pasta in a separate pot for 6 minutes and then keep separate, adding it to the soup when serving.
Step 3 - Place the basil, spinach, olive oil and cheese in a food processor and blend to a fine paste. Add to the soup and then season with salt and pepper. You can also add a few cubes of Persian feta to the soup and have chilli sauce on the side with the toasted bread when you serve it too.