Minestrone soup with orzo

Minestrone must be one of the easiest soups in the world to make, infinitely forgiving as it uses what ever vegetables you have left moldering in the fridge and any small starch grain to bulk it out to give that rib sticking quality that you need on a cold day. In fact as long as it contains tomatoes it pretty much qualifies, Italian in origin and you can see why this is frugal cooking at its best, it can be a vegetarian or meat based soup, its a great dish served with homemade bread.

Ingredients

• 2 sticks of celery chopped
• Tin of tomatoes
• 1 onion - chopped
• 1 small red pepper chopped
• 2 small carrots - peeled and chopped
• Couple of cabbage leaves - finely chopped
• Vegetable stock
• Handful of Orzo pasta ( rice, vermecelli, broken spaghetti, etc)
• Salt and pepper
• Parmesan cheese to serve
• Little oil or butter
• Herbs

Method

• Heat the oil or butter in a large saucepan
• Add the onion and garlic and sweat off to soften without colouring
• Add the carrots, celery, pepper, to the pan
• Now add the tomatoes and the vegetable stock just enough to cover the vegetables
• Bring to a gentle simmer 
• Add the cabbage, and continue to cook until all the vegetable are softened slightly
• Now add the orzo and herbs if using and simmer until the orzo is cooked
• Serve in warmed bowls with grated parmesan cheese and chunky slices of bread.