There’s nothing quite like a bowl of hot soup to warm you up, but so many soups just seem a bit light and delicate. That’s not a bad thing, but after a day out in the Southern Alps freezing and scaring yourself rigid, something a little more robust, like this spicy minestrone, seems in order.

Profile
Serves: Six
Weight: 3100g
Volume: 4000ml
Calories: 3644
Cost: $18.25
Time: 30min
Fuel: N/A – This one’s probably beyond the scope of cooking in the hut, but it’s well worth pre-preparing as a dehydrated meal, or just having waiting for you back home.

Ingredients

• 250g Spanish chorizo, finely sliced
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 30g butter
• 6 sage leaves
• 8 cups vegetables cut into 1-2cm pieces (pumpkin, kumara, celery, cauliflower, carrots)
• 2 cups red wine
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 3 cups chicken stock
• 3 cups water
• 800g passata or 2 cans chopped tomatoes
• 1 cup puy lentils rinsed
• ¼ cup pesto
• 2-5 tbsp shaved parmesan

Method

Heat the oil and butter in a large heavy-based saucepan and cook the chorizo until crispy. Remove chorizo and set aside, leaving the residual fat in the pot. Add sage leaves, vegetables and cinnamon and cook, stirring occasionally over medium heat for 10min. Add the red wine and cook for 15min or until most of the liquid has evaporated. Finally, stir in stock, water, passata and lentils. Bring mixture to the boil, then cook covered over low heat for 40min or until lentils are soft. Season to taste. Add parmesan and pesto and serve.