Italian Vegetable Soup – 125 calories

Italian Vegetable SoupThis is the final soup recipe for my collection of 12 Super Soups.  All these recipes can be found in my book 5:2 Healthy Eating for Life as well as here on this site.

I make a lot of soups as they are a great way of getting to eat more vegetables! 

A lot of people think that cheese is too high in calories to use on a fast day, but if you use a little strong cheese, it is amazing what a difference it can make to both the flavour and the texture. Because parmesan is a little salty too, it helps to balance your electrolytes  – when you may have been drinking a lot of fluids on a fast day, you do need some salt to replace what may have been lost or is missing because you haven’t eaten. So whereas on non-fast days I rarely use salt in cooking, on fast days I like to make sure that something salty is part of our menu. That could be capers or pickles, air dried ham perhaps, or the stock that I use in soup.

Italian Vegetable Soup
A little pesto and a sprinkle of parmesan bring a taste of Italy to a straightforward vegetable soup. There is lots of scope for varying the vegetables according to the season.
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Prep Time
10 min
Cook Time
30 min
Prep Time
10 min
Cook Time
30 min
Ingredients
  1. ½ tbsp olive oil
  2. ½ large onion, chopped
  3. 1 clove garlic, finely chopped
  4. 1 stalk celery, chopped
  5. ¼ cauliflower florets (150g)
  6. 1 medium carrot, chopped
  7. ¼ sweet red bell pepper, chopped
  8. 1 tbsp parsley, finely chopped
  9. 500ml chicken or vegetable stock
  10. 1 tsp pesto
  11. Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
To serve
  1. A few basil leaves, roughly torn
  2. 10g freshly grated Parmesan cheese
Instructions
  1. Heat oil in large pan and gently sauté the onions and garlic for about 5 minutes, until a little softened.
  2. Then add the celery, carrot and red pepper and cook gently for a further 10 minutes, adding a little water if necessary to prevent them sticking.
  3. Add the cauliflower, parsley and stock, bring to the boil and simmer for 10 to 12 minutes until the cauliflower is tender.
  4. Add the pesto and adjust the seasoning to taste.
  5. Serve in warmed bowls with some basil leaves and a sprinkle of Parmesan.
Notes
  1. Per serving: kcals 124
  2. Carbs 14g Fat 6g Protein 5g
  3. You could add some pasta or cannelini beans to make a more substantial soup for a non-fast day.
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