Zesty minestrone soup with quinoa

Throw together your standard veg (onion, carrot, celery) with some unexpected additions (quinoa, kidney beans, spinach) for a zesty minestrone and you’ve got dinner in 15 minutes. Don’t forget that a cup of cooked spinach has up to 12 per cent of your recommended daily dose of calcium. Bon appétit.

Serves 8
Ingredients
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 onion, coarsely chopped
1 large carrot, scrubbed, chopped
2 sticks celery, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp curry powder
½ tsp ground nutmeg
1.25 litres vegetable stock
250ml water
800g can diced tomatoes, no salt
85g quinoa, rinsed and drained
540g can kidney beans, rinsed
675g baby spinach leaves

Method
1. In a large pan, heat oil. Add onion; sauté for 3-5 mins, or till soft. Add carrots, celery, garlic; sauté for 5 mins. Add curry powder and nutmeg; sauté for 1 min.

2. Add stock, water, tomatoes, quinoa, beans. Bring to boil; reduce heat. Cover, simmer for 15 mins. Remove from heat; stir in spinach till leaves are just wilted.

Zesty minestrone from The Vegetarian’s Complete Quinoa Cookbook edited by Mairlyn Smith (Murdoch Books, £14.99). Photographs Mike McColl.

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