What's for lunch? Tom Kerridge has a recipe for easy minestrone that will fill you up

Fuel your day with a satisfying 'anything goes' Italian minestone

Tom Kerridge's fridge raid soup. Picture: Cristian Barnett/PA. 

It is officially soup weather, which is my time to shine. 

From spicy coconut milk-laden broths to bog-standard but utterly delicious 'hotel-style' vegetable soup, from now until at least the end of February, I will have a batch of soup in my fridge. 

It serves two purposes: one, as a stop-gap between school finishing and dinner time for my children, and two, as a hearty lunch option during my office days at work.

While for some, a bowl of soup is an entire meal in itself, I find that unless mine is 'souper-charged' with protein and carbohydrates, it can lead to a sugar-laden snackathon come 3pm. Enter the great Italian minestrone: a hearty soupy stew filled with beans and pasta to keep us fuller for longer.

I lean heavily on this soup as a base recipe in the winter months. It's the perfect vehicle for cheap and nutritious Irish veg like turnip, savoy cabbage and carrots. And I am never sniffy about my choice of legume - I use chickpeas, cannellini beans and sometimes a tin of mixed beans interchangeably. 

Tom Kerridge's recipe is a brilliant bedrock to create your own version. “Swap the chorizo for bacon, add beans or lentils, use only veg – anything goes,” he says. “If you roughly follow these ratios of veg, chicken stock and pasta, it will always taste delicious.”

• Real Life Recipes by Tom Kerridge is published by Bloomsbury Absolute, priced €30. Photography by Cristian Barnett. Available now.

Fridge raid soup

recipe by:Tom Kerridge

Swap the chorizo for bacon, add beans or lentils, use only veg – anything goes. If you roughly follow these ratios of veg, chicken stock and pasta, it will always taste delicious.

Servings

4

Preparation Time

 10 mins

Cooking Time

 30 mins

Total Time

 40 mins

Course

 Main

Cuisine

 Irish

Ingredients

• 1 tbsp olive oil

• 3 cooking chorizo sausages, sliced

• 1 large onion, diced

• 2 large carrots, diced

• 3 celery sticks, diced

• 2tbsp thyme leaves

• 1L chicken stock

• 400g tin chopped tomatoes

• 150g small pasta shapes or orzo

• 150g frozen peas

• 2 large handfuls of kale, roughly chopped

• Salt and freshly ground black pepper

• To finish:

• Extra virgin olive oil

• Finely grated Parmesan

Method

1. Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan. Add the chorizo slices, let them slowly render in the oil and cook for around five minutes or until they just begin to caramelise. Add the onion, carrots and celery and sauté for a further five minutes or until softened.

2. Add the thyme, chicken stock and tinned tomatoes and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat to a simmer and cook for five minutes before adding the pasta.

3. Stir well and simmer for 12 minutes or until the pasta is almost cooked.

4. Toss in the frozen peas and kale, stir well and season with salt and pepper to taste. Simmer for a few minutes until the kale is tender.

5. Ladle the soup into warmed bowls. Add a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and a sprinkling of Parmesan, then serve.

Shelf Life

If you are new to soup making and short on time, then a soup maker is a solid investment this winter. 

An all-in-one contraption that sweats the vegetables, cooks the soup and blends it, soup makers are easy to clean and fit easily on a countertop. 

The Morphy Richards soup maker promises soup in 21 minutes, with two settings (chunky or smooth) and a 'keep warm' option which is ideal for families or couples with different schedules. 

Right now, it's €89.95, down from an RRP of €119, at harvenorman.ie.