We’re mostly familiar with minestrone in its wintry form, but in Italy, minestrone is made with whatever vegetables are in season. This spring version is packed with greens that go wonderfully with mint. New potatoes give the soup body, but you could use leftover cooked rice or small pasta shapes, if you prefer.
An aromatic herb in the mint family, peppermint has soothing effects that are well known to anyone who enjoys a cup of mint tea. It has proven to be an effective remedy for IBS, and with menthol as the main component in peppermint oil, its powers as a decongestant and reliever of cold symptoms are notable. Peppermint also acts as a muscle relaxant and pain reliever so it may also reduce certain types of headache. Peppermint plants can be bought in any garden centre, and are easy to grow in a garden or window box, but these recipes will still be just as delicious made with common mint, the variety sold in supermarkets.
Advertisement - Continue Reading Below
Yields:
4 serving(s)
Prep Time:
20 mins
Cook Time:
20 mins
Total Time:
40 mins
Cal/Serv:
372
Ingredients
1Tbsp.
olive oil
6
spring onions, roughly chopped
1
carrot, roughly chopped
200g
baby new potatoes, cut into 5mm slices
1
.25 litre vegetable stock
200g
baby courgettes, trimmed and sliced
200g
spring greens, finely shredded (woody stalks discarded)
200g
peas, fresh or frozen
Large handful mint leaves
For the mint pesto
1
garlic clove, crushed
25g
pine nuts, toasted
25g
mint leaves
15g
Italian-style vegetarian hard cheese, grated, plus extra to sprinkle
75ml
extra virgin olive oil
Directions
Step 1Heat oil in a large pan over medium heat and fry spring onions for 2-3min, until softened. Add carrot, potatoes and stock. Bring to the boil and simmer for 10min, until potatoes are tender.
Step 2Meanwhile, whizz all the pesto ingredients and some seasoning in the small bowl of a food processor until almost, but not quite, smooth. Alternatively, bash the dry ingredients with a pestle and mortar before mixing in the oil.
Step 3 Add courgettes, spring greens, peas and mint to pan and simmer 5-7min, until tender. Divide between 4 bowls, top each with a spoonful of pesto and a sprinkle of cheese and serve.
An experienced and highly skilled team of food writers, stylists and digital content producers, the Good Housekeeping Cookery Team is a close-knit squad of food obsessives. Cookery Editor Emma Franklin is our resident chilli obsessive and barbecue expert, who spends an inordinate amount of time on holidays poking round the local supermarkets seeking out new and exciting foods. Senior Cookery Writer Alice Shields is a former pastry chef and baking fanatic who loves making bread and would have peanut butter with everything if she could. Her favourite carb is pasta, and our vibrant green spaghetti is her weeknight go-to. Lover of all things savoury, Senior Cookery Writer Grace Evans can be found eating crispy corn and nocellara olives at every opportunity, and will take the cheeseboard over dessert any time (though she cannot resist a slice of tres leches cake). With a wealth of professional kitchen know-how, culinary training and years of experience between them, they are all dedicated to ensuring every Good Housekeeping recipe is the best it can be, so you can trust they’ll work (and if they don’t – we’ll have the answer for why*) every time (*90% of the time the answer is: “buy an separate oven thermometer”!).
