When it's cold the last thing you want is to get out of the blanket. And if you have to stay in the kitchen and cut various and so many ingredients into small pieces? No way! ...but that boring chore is just what you need if you want a good bowl of minestrone soup that warms up the heart. And the cooking way? With a traditional method it takes at least a minimum of one hour of slow cooking ... I'm hungry now!
The temptation to go for the instant food is strong. No, I will not stoop so low .... at least for today.
Here is a solution that guarantees a maximum result with minimum effort.
The time you have to stay up to prepare everything is just 5 minutes, then 2-3 minutes of patience for the whole thing comes to a boil... At this point, you are free again to go back to your warm and confort lair. After half an hour a nice plate of steaming soup with rich ingredients that melt in your mouth is ready..
MINESTRONE SOUP WITH FENNEL AND LENTILS
Ingredients for 6 servings
500g of Seasoning blend vegetables (frozen)
400g Cooked lentils (frozen)
1 Fennel
1 White onion
1 can (240g netto) of Borlotti beans
100g of Bacon (already cut into small cubes)
120g of Small pasta for soup
Water
Stock cube to taste
Extra virgin olive oil
Grana cheese
Procedure
1. Cut the fennel and the onion into small dices.
2. In a pressure cooker toss the seasoning blend vegetables and the lentils still frozen, fennel, onion, beans, bacon and pasta. Cover everything with water and begin to cook with high heat.
3. When the frozen ingredients thaw, give a nice stir and close the lid of the cooker.
4. Lower the heat when the pressure cooker begins to whistle.
5. After half an hour turn off the heat, add some amount of the stock cube to adjust to the taste.
6. Serve the dish with a little fresh extra virgin olive oil and a handful of grated grana cheese.
The soups that I mentioned the other day were prepared with the same procedure.
You can cook it in a large amount as a prep-meal to eat it in the following days. In that case I suggest you to prepare it without the pasta. When serving, take the amount needed at that time of the soup, bring to a simmer and add the pasta for soup or rice or noodles or toasted slices of stale bread or other grains you want. You can vary also the taste: with tomato paste, with milk or cream, with some powder of instant porcini cream soup, etc. etc.
Today's Lazy-easy cooking-hacks
- Don't be scared by pressure cookers
- Use "also" frozen / pre-cooked ingredients
- Cook with large amount even when you do need a little, so you can eat it in the following days
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