This Minestrone for a Rainy Day is the perfect dish at the end of the summer to warm yourself up on a chilly evening. As fall is creeping in upon us, it’s time to start cooking different foods again. The temperatures at night have dropped and our evenings are getting darker and darker. Yesterday after a few bike rides through town, my clothes and shoes were soaked right through as rain came pouring down from the sky. These relentless rains are the first tell-tale signs of autumn. Riding my bike through town I can smell ‘fall’ in the air. This smell of rain always reminds me of Stockholm, where I lived as a student. It takes me down memory lane and makes me feel homesick for that beautiful city surrounded by water, parklands and forests. Practically living in a forest just outside of Stockholm, the mossy, earthy smell of forest, of pine trees, lake water and impending rain has stuck with me ever since. With that smell in my nose I came back home and put on some dry and comfy clothes. I was shivering all over and it was the first time in a long time that I felt tempted to turn on the heat. I peeked in my fridge and the only thing I saw was summer salad ingredients. But what I needed and longed for was something warming, something hearty, something soothing to nourish me from deep inside. Cold weather calls for warming foods. I picked everything I could use from my fridge and decided to create my own version of minestrone. This warming bowl of soup is my idea of comfort food at the end of a long cold and rainy day. Enjoy!

Ingredients (Serves 4)

• 1 tsp chili powder
• 1 tbsp dried parsley
• 3 garlic cloves, peeled and chopped
• 2  large carrots, cut in bite-size chunks
• 1  large red onion, peeled and cut in bite-size chunks
• 2 small zucchinis, cut into bite-size chunks
• 6 roma tomatoes, quartered
• 500 gs passata di pomodori
• 1,5 cup chickpeas, cooked
• 1,5 L vegetable stock
• 1 bunch (2 cups) dinosaur kale, chopped
• 1  red bell pepper, cut in bite-size chunks
• 2 tbsps  extra virgin olive oil
• 1 glass red wine
• 1/2 cup fresh basil, chopped
• freshly ground black pepper
• sea salt
• 1/3 cup parmesan cheese, grated

Preparation

1. Heat olive oil in a large pot. Add red onion, garlic, carrots, dried chili powder and dried parsley. Reduce heat and allow to simmer for 15 minutes until the vegetables are soft.

2. Add the roma tomatoes, zucchini and red bell pepper. Allow to simmer for another 10 minutes.

3. Add the vegetable stock, red wine, chickpeas and kale. Cook for 15 minutes.

4. Season to taste with freshly ground black pepper and sea salt. Add more water if necessary. I like my soup to be thick and creamy and my veggies cooked ‘al dente’.

5. Serve with fresh basil and grated Parmesan cheese (optional).