Minestrone soup is a lovely thick soup of Italian origin that typically includes vegetables and beans.

Jamie Oliver's version of minestrone soup has a bountiful collection of veggies, flavour-enhancing herbs and smoked bacon.

A very filling meal, the chef's wholesome soup even has pasta, potato and beans but it's "super easy" to make, he promised.

"Hearty and nutritious, minestrone soup is a tasty crowd-pleaser and is super-easy to tweak according to the vegetables you have in the house," said Jamie Oliver.

Here's how to recreate Jamie Oliver's minestrone soup that is "super easy" to make.

Minestrone soup

Serves: eight people

Ingredients

• One clove of garlic
• One red onion
• Two carrots
• Two sticks of celery
• One courgette
• One small leek
• One large potato
• 400g tin of cannellini beans
• Two rashers of smoked streaky bacon
• Olive oil
• Half a tsp dried oregano
• One fresh bay leaf
• Two x 400g tins of plum tomatoes
• One litre organic vegetable stock
• One large handful of seasonal greens, such as savoy cabbage, curly kale, chard
• 100g wholemeal pasta
• Optional: half a bunch of fresh basil
• Parmesan cheese

Method

Preparation

Peel and finely chop the garlic and red onion. Trim and roughly chop the carrots, celery, courgette and leek, then add the vegetables to a large bowl. Scrub and dice the potato. Drain the cannellini beans, then set aside. Finely slice the bacon.

Frying

Heat two tablespoons of oil in a large saucepan over a medium heat. Add the bacon and fry for two minutes, or until golden.

Add the garlic, onion, carrots, celery, courgette, leek, oregano and bay and cook for 15 minutes, or until the vegetables have softened, stirring occasionally.

Add the potato, cannellini beans and plum tomatoes, then pour in the vegetable stock. Stir well, breaking up the tomatoes with the back of a spoon.

Cover with a lid and bring everything slowly to the boil, then simmer for 30 minutes, or until the potato is cooked through.

While the ingredients are simmering, remove and discard any tough stalks bits from the greens, then roughly chop.

Using a rolling pin, bash the pasta into pieces while it’s still in the packet. Add the greens and pasta to the pan, and cook for a further 10 minutes, or until the pasta is al dente. Add a splash more stock or water to loosen, if needed.

Pick over the basil leaves and stir through. Season with salt and black pepper, then serve with a grating of Parmesan and a slice of wholemeal bread.