Minestrone with bacon and chicken

The other day I came across this minestrone recipe in one of the recipe books I have bought more than 10 years ago ('Low Fat High Flavour', Marks & Spencer) and just looking at the picture made me open the fridge straight away to see if I had all the ingredients at home. But honestly I only looked at the picture and not at the ingredient list and for some reason I thought they had included bacon in the soup. Turned out I was wrong. There was no bacon in the list , actually there was no meat at all in this soup, so I decided to use the recipe as a base and blend in the tastes I like. We have enjoyed it so much that I made another batch the following day ;-). It's a nice meal on its own.

Minestrone with bacon and chicken

4 Servings

Ingredients:
1 tbsp olive oil

1 yellow onion, sliced

1 garlic clove, crushed

200gr bacon

2 tomatoes, skinned and chopped

2 celery sticks, diced

2 carrots, peeled and diced

1l hot water

1,5 chicken cubes

1 chicken fillet, cut in thin slices

200gr white beans, rinsed (from a can)

4 cabbage leaves

50gr pasta (small ones, depending on your taste)

3 tsp Parmesan cheese, grated

1. Heat the oil in a large saucepan and add the onions and garlic, saute gently, stirring occasionally until soft

2. Add the bacon, stir occassionaly until soft and slightly golden brown

3. Add the tomatoes, celery and carrots and saute for another 5 minutes

4. Pour in the hot water, cubes and the sliced chicken fillet and let it simmer on medium heat for another 20 minutes

5. Add the beans, cabbage and pasta and cook until the pasta is al dente (see instructions on the packet), more or less 10 minutes

6. Stir in the Parmesan cheese and ladle into individual soup bowls. Serve immediately

Enjoy!