Lucy Tweed’s Mediterranean soup recipes: minestrone, avgolemono and Greek white bean soup | Australian food and drink

Minestrone

(Pictured above)

Here, the vegetables, beans and pasta are roughly the same size, so every spoonful is heaped and satisfying. Nothing to poke the roof of your mouth or wedge into a molar. Just warm, honest, soft-edged texture, soaking up a good broth and made infinitely better with a swirl of garlicky homemade pesto. It’s true restoration in a pot. The soup can be stored in the fridge in an airtight container for up to three days, or freeze for up to three months.

Cook 45 minutes
Serves 4-6

2 tbsp olive oil
1 brown onion, finely chopped
2 celery stalks, finely chopped
3 carrots, peeled and finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
2 zucchini, finely diced
1 red capsicum, finely diced
1 potato, peeled and cut into 5mm dice
1–1.5 litres vegetable or chicken-style stock (4–6 cups)
400g tin diced tomatoes, gently crushed with a fork
400g tin cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
400g tin borlotti beans, drained and rinsed
200g small pasta (1 cup)
155g frozen peas (1 cup)
250g green beans, cut into 1cm (½ inch) pieces
Toasted sourdough rubbed with garlic, to serve

For the pesto
1 bunch basil leaves
40g toasted pine nuts (¼ cup)
50g grated parmesan (½ cup)
80ml extra-virgin olive oil (⅓ cup)
1 garlic clove
A squeeze of lemon juice

To make the pesto, combine all the ingredients, along with salt and freshly ground pepper, in a food processor and blitz until fairly smooth but still textured. Set aside.

Heat the olive oil in a large heavy-based pot over medium heat. Add the onion, celery and carrot and cook, stirring, for about five minutes until softened.

Add the garlic, zucchini, capsicum and potato and cook for another five minutes, stirring to coat in the oil. Pour in the vegetable stock and diced tomatoes. Bring to a simmer, cover and cook for 20 minutes until the vegetables are tender.

Add the cannellini beans, borlotti beans, pasta, frozen peas and green beans. Simmer gently, stirring occasionally, until the pasta is cooked al dente and the soup is hearty and thickened, about 10 minutes.

Stir through a generous amount of the homemade pesto and season with salt.

Let stand for five minutes off the heat to allow the flavours to swell through. If the soup thickens too much after standing, splash in a little extra stock or water to loosen. Serve with toast rubbed with garlic.

Fasolatha (Greek white bean soup)

Traditional fasolatha is simple – don’t overcomplicate it with extra spices or herbs. For an even creamier soup, mash a few of the beans against the side of the pot during cooking. Serve with olives, pickled vegetables and a hunk of sourdough for the full Greek experience.

Cook 1 hour 15 minutes
Serves 4-6

300g dried white beans (such as cannellini or navy beans), or 800g tin beans, drained and rinsed
2 tbsp olive oil
1 brown onion, finely chopped
2 carrots, peeled and diced
2 celery stalks, diced
3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
400g tin diced tomatoes
1 bay leaf
1 tsp sweet paprika
½ bunch flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped
1.25 litres vegetable stock or water (5 cups)
Extra-virgin olive oil, to drizzle

If using dried beans, soak them overnight in cold water.

The next day, drain and rinse the beans. Place in a pot, cover with fresh cold water, bring to the boil, then drain and rinse again.

In a large pot, heat the olive oil over medium heat and cook the onion, carrot, celery and garlic until softened and fragrant.

Add the beans, tomatoes, bay leaf, paprika, parsley and stock. Season with salt and pepper.

Bring to the boil, then reduce to a gentle simmer and cook, uncovered, for about one hour, or until the beans are tender and the soup is rich and slightly thickened, adding extra water if necessary.

Taste and adjust the seasoning, if necessary, before serving hot with an extra drizzle of olive oil.

Chicken avgolemono

This soup is the Greek version of the cure-all chicken soup, with swollen rice bobbing about and a smatter of fresh herbs. What I love is the addition of egg, which makes the soup slightly milky. You can load it with vegetables, but sometimes when you truly feel under the weather, just keep it super basic. You’ll need a pot large enough to comfortably fit a whole chicken.

Cook 2.5 hours
Serves 6

2 tbsp olive oil
1 whole chicken (around 1.6 kg)
1 brown onion, quartered
2 carrots, peeled
2 celery stalks, cut into lengths to fit pot
1 tbsp chicken stock powder
165g short-grain white rice, or pasta if you’re inclined (¾ cup)
3 eggs
Juice of 2 lemons
Finely chopped dill and flat-leaf parsley, to serve

Heat the olive oil in a large heavy-based pot over medium–high heat.

Add the chicken and brown it on all sides for eight minutes each – don’t rush this step. Once it’s golden all over, add the onion, whole carrots and celery stalks. Cover with about 2.5 litres of cold water, bring to a gentle boil, then lower the heat to a soft simmer.

Season the broth with salt, and continue poaching the chicken for one hour or until just cooked through. Remove the chicken, allow it to cool slightly, then shred the meat from the bones. (Optional: crack the leg and carcass bones and return them to the pot with the skin and any fatty trimmings.)

Add the stock powder to the soup and simmer for another hour. Strain the broth and return it to a clean pot. Add the rice and cook gently until tender, about 20 minutes. Remove from the heat.