Gino D’Acampo’s minestrone recipe

“This has to be one of my favourite soups of all time and it will keep you filled up for hours,” says chef Gino D’Acampo, who has teamed up with Love Food Hate Waste for this year’s Food Waste Action Week.

“If you decide to make this recipe in the morning for later in the day, cook it up to the point when you are about to put in the pasta. Only add the pasta and cook for the last 25 minutes when you are ready to serve, or the pasta will go soggy.”

Zuppa di verdure

Ingredients:

(Serves 6)

3tbsp olive oil

2 onions, finely chopped

2 carrots, finely chopped

2 celery sticks, finely chopped

200g canned cannellini beans, drained

250g King Edward potatoes, chopped into 2cm chunks

200g dark green cabbage (cavolo nero), any coarse stems removed, leaves roughly chopped

400g can of chopped tomatoes

200g French beans, finely chopped

2L vegetable stock, made with stock cubes

120g dried conchigliette pasta (baby shells)

4tbsp roughly chopped flat leaf parsley leaves

Fine sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method:

1. Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan over a medium heat and fry the onions, carrots and celery for 10 minutes, or until they are just golden.

2. Add the cannellini beans, potatoes, cabbage, tomatoes, French beans and stock, and bring to the boil.

3. Reduce the heat, half-cover the saucepan with the lid and cook for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.

4. Remove the lid, add the pasta with the parsley and continue to cook over a medium heat for a further 25 minutes, stirring occasionally. Season to taste (I like to add half a teaspoon of pepper).

Gino’s Italian Family Adventure by Gino D’Acampo is published by Bloomsbury Publishing, priced £22. Photography by Haarala Hamilton. Available now.