There is no denying that soup is a classic comfort food and hearty recipes full of veg are a great way to help get your five a day. In fact, the world’s longest living family swear by one recipe and it turns out that it’s quite simple to make.
Regularly eaten by the Melis family, a group of nine Sardinian siblings who, at their peak, boasted a combined age of 891, all of its ingredients are readily available from most supermarkets.
The healthy clan also boast the Guinness World Record for longest living family in the world, first awarded the prestigious title back in 2012, with the oldest sibling being 109 at the time. Their reported diet included a lunch of this minestrone soup, bread, and a glass of red wine daily.
If you’re wondering what this mysterious concoction tastes like, one reporter put it to the test to find out, and made her own batch. The Mirror’s Lucy Marshall took it upon herself to source the ingredients from her local Tesco – and said it tastes “amazing”.
Regarding health benefits, a doctor previously took to social media to explain how this special soup can lower cholesterol, help weight management and improve gut health. He even said that it can help lower a person’s risk of cancer. On TikTok, Dr Tim Tiutan said: “This amazing plant-based soup is full of vitamins and minerals, fibre, and more.”
Read on to see how Lucy Marshall got on in her own words.
I have never made my own soup at home, so was excited to get stuck in. Call me optimistic but I was hoping I would love the dish so much that I could serve it up to all my family and friends and preach about the health benefits until I’m 109 years old.
When it comes to cooking delicious food, I knew I could put my trust in the one and only Jamie Oliver. His recipe on his website states that it only takes 30 minutes to prepare and as the chef shared a YouTube clip of his preparation, I knew it would be easy to cook along with him.
After staring at my depressingly empty fridge, I started by heading out to get the ingredients.vAfter grabbing a trolley and getting distracted in the magazines section, I began looking for all the ingredients: plum tomatoes, celery, butter beans, dried pasta, bay leaves, kale, vegetable stock cube, olive oil, extra virgin olive oil, parmesan cheese, and crusty bread.
The recipe also includes salt and pepper, garlic, chopped tomatoes, and two small onions which I already had at home. I think the idea of this recipe is to use a lot of leftover items you already have at home, but if you buy everything in one go it can be a pricier affair.
My total at Tesco came to £28.90. So before I even began cooking I knew that this would be a dish I’d prefer to cook when I have the majority of the ingredients already sitting patiently in my cupboards.
Time to cook
I began by dicing all of my vegetables – carrots, celery, onions, and kale. I put a large pan on the hob and put it on a medium heat for a few minutes. I added in three tablespoons of olive oil before adding in a spoonful of ‘Very Lazy’ chopped garlic to keep things super easy.
I put the onions into the sizzling pan and let them turn golden before adding in the carrot and onion. I also added in a few chopped plum tomatoes and a handful of fresh toms for good measure. The great thing about this recipe is it can be tailored to your taste buds.
Next up was seasoning time. I added salt and pepper into the dish – just a few grinds – before putting in two bay leaves, two teaspoons of extra virgin olive oil, and a vegetable stock cube. This recipe works for many as it is vegetarian – but you could add meat to it too.
I then added in the kale before pouring in organic chopped tomatoes and then filled the can back up with water and poured it in – as instructed by Jamie Oliver himself. I left the pan for five minutes before adding in a cup of dried pasta. Jamie also suggests adding in a pint of hot water to aid the softening of the pasta.
As this was my first time preparing the dish I was working quite slowly to follow Jamie’s tips closely, so it took a while. I would advise not to be too precious about cutting everything perfectly as it isn’t necessary for this dish. Plus, every minestrone recipe is slightly different so don’t be afraid to make it your own.
I put a lid on the pan and cooked it on a medium heat for 20 minutes. I went off to watch a Modern Family episode before adding my bread rolls into the oven after 10 minutes.
Taste test
Once the time was up, I checked the pan to make sure the pasta had cooked and it was beautifully soft. By this point I was ravenous so I put a large amount of the soup in a big bowl and serve it alongside my warm bread.
A delighted hum of ‘mmm’ came out of my mouth as I savoured the first mouthful of the soup. It was delicious. I get quite bored of eating the same soups all the time but I loved all the different elements that this dish gave.
While there was plenty of flavour, I do like an extra kick, so in future, I think I would add a dash of something like cayenne pepper to give it an edge. I also noticed the soup is very different from a standard one – it has much more of a stew-like quality.
Final verdict
With so many ingredients included, this can be a costly dish but I think you can manipulate the recipe to suit what you have at home – any spare pasta or vegetables lying around would work. However the recipe I followed meant that there were plenty of leftovers to enjoy the next day and serve up for others.
I really enjoyed this healthy soup and will be preparing it again in the future. Not only is it a filling tea (I’m Northern, it’s tea, not dinner), it’s exciting, delicious and instantly uplifting. Overall I would give the dish an 8/10. With a bit of extra spice it would get a 10 from me.