menestra

most vegetables can be used - the most important thing for this dish is cooking all different ingredients for the right amount of time.

• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 1 onion, chopped
• 3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 4 tbsp flat leaf parsley, chopped
• 150 ml white wine
• 300ml vegetable stock
• 150 g green beans, trimmed and cut in half
• 200 g young carrots, trimmed and cleaned
• 8 small new potatoes
• 1 cup of sweet corn
• 1 cup of peas
• 50 g mangetout
• 4 mushrooms, quartered
• croutons, to serve

heat the oil in a large heavy-based pan and saute the onion until soft. add the garlic and cook for a little longer. the onion and garlic shouldn't brown. put the onion and garlic into a food processor, add the parsley and half the wine and make a puree.

bring another pan of water to boil, add 1 tbsp of salt and boil the potatoes for 5-10 minutes. add the carrots and cook for 5 minutes more. drain.

pour the stock into the large sauce pan and bring to the boil. add the beans, corn and peas. half cover the sauce pan and leave to cook for 5 minutes. add the mushrooms and continue cooking for another 5 minutes. the vegetables should be just cooked.

add the pre-boiled carrots and potatoes. add the rest of the wine and the onion and garlic puree and stir everything gently.

serve with croutons.