This hearty Italian soup is made with pasta and beans and great for batch cooking. Just divide it into portions and pop it in the freezer and this wonderfully warming soup will never be far from your bowl.
Method
- If you can fry the chopped onion in a pan with the oil over low heat for 8 minutes until the onion is soft but not brown this will give the soup more flavour. Then add the remaining ingredients to the slow cooker dish.
- Or if you are just using the slow cooker just put everything in at the same time and mix well. Add the pasta if you are using it.
- Turn on the slow cooker for HIGH for 3 hours or LOW for 5 hours.
- If you are using pasta add it half way though (large shapes) or for the last hour (small shapes .
- Enjoy this in a bowl with grated cheese, or croutons or on its own.
Ingredients
1 large onion, finely chopped
1 tin of beans / pulses / lentils drained
1 tin of carrots drained or 1 fresh carrot
1 tin of potatoes drained or 1 large / 2 small potatoes chopped into cubes
1 tin of peas or handful of frozen peas
1 tin of tomatoes
4 tablespoons oil
1 teaspoon pepper
½ teaspoon of salt
1 tablespoon mixed herbs
1 stock cube
3 mugs of water
OPTIONAL:
4 x handfuls dried pasta shapes
Chefs tip: You can swap a tin of vegetables with whatever fresh vegetables you have available (cauliflower, green beans, broccoli, kale etc). You can use any fresh herbs as well.
Instead of using dry pasta, if you have any left over cooked pasta or rice you can add this to the dish half an hour before the end of the cooking time.
Nutrition tip: If you are worried that slow cooking destroys nutrients don’t be! Slow cooking can actually preserve nutrients that can be lost when food is heated at a higher temperature.
‘Want to try out more bean recipes? Then check out our ‘Keen for Beans’ campaign’
