Frilly Minestrone

When the winter ills hit this is just the ticket.  Week before last my little frills came down with a tummy bug that dragged on a few days.. so worried I took them the doctor and her attention was more focussed on me: 'You look run down"  I conceded yes, I had a sore throat and was tired, I was probably coming down with a cold.  Que sera sera.  She urged me to open my mouth and say 'aaaaah'.

I complied and then soonafter learned that I had acute tonsilitis.  Turns out I was the only one of us who walked out with a prescription and strict rules to go to bed for three days.  Errrm right.  I did however rest the next few days and by the end of middle of the second day I got bored with being sick and decided to make myself some minestrone - inspired by a recipe of Gary Mehigans'.  His version has many deli items and I wanted to use what I had using one pot - so set to work - thirty minutes later I had this.

And it's delicious.  I used some fancy pasta I picked up in my travels - I have a thing for frills you see ;)


Ingredients:
250g bacon, roughly diced
1 tb liquid smoke (not implicitly necessary but it does give a lovely flavour)
1 tb olive oil
4 cloves garlic, crushed
1 onion, finely chopped/sliced
1 carrot, finely chopped/sliced
2 sticks celery, finely chopped/sliced
1 1/2 litres chicken stock
400g tin diced tomatoes
2 tb tomato paste
1 bay leaf
2 sprigs thyme
1 1/2 - 2 cups dry pasta (use spiralli/penne -something with some weight to it)
handful baby spinach leaves, roughly chopped


Method:
Heat oil in your large pot.  Add bacon, liquid smoke and some pepper, stir until soft.

Add onion, celery, carrot and garlic, stir until slightly softened (about 4 minutes)

Add stock, tomatoes, tomato paste, bayleaf and thyme, turn stove to a simmer and allow vegetables to soften - about 8 minutes then add the raw pasta. 

Simmer for a further 8-10 minutes until pasta is soft, top up with stock if the soup starts to lack liquid - some people like more 'soupy' some like 'chunky'...

Serve!

So friends what do you like to eat when you're ill?  What's your favourite pasta?

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