IT'S MINESTRONE WEATHER.

Frosty mornings, chance of rain, gusty winds: conditions could not be more perfect.

This particular child of the minestrone family is calmly comforting, with its cooked-down carrots, celery, zucchini, greens, borlotti beans, and tiny soup pasta.

Keeping it ‘white’ and not adding the usual tomatoes really exploits the buttery sweetness of the vegetables. A little tomato paste is fine, because it goes straight to the base flavours, not the top notes.

The joy of any minestrone is that the vegetables get all melty and soft and chummy; the downside being that things like zucchini and green leaves lose their lovely brightness and can look a little tired by the time you serve.

There are two brilliant ways to revive and brighten a tired soup.

One is to keep some green leaves aside until serving, finely slice them and throw them in to soften for the last minute or two. Cabbage, spinach, kale - whatever - and suddenly you have a bright, lively, chlorophyllically green layer and a whoosh of freshness.

The second is the magical addition of a spoonful or two of lush green pesto. Which of course we all have, because we made so much of it in summer and put it aside for winter, being the good little ants we are. Except this little grasshopper didn’t, so no home-made pesto for me.

Tip: If you need to buy pesto, look for an oily dark green one (like Roza’s), rather than the creamy, light green, blended version, which doesn’t have the same cut-through and clarity.

Of course if you have sun-dried tomatoes, you can whiz together the pesto rosso from this post, and add a spoonful of that instead. (In fact, make it anyway, and slather it on hot toast to serve with your zuppa).

MINESTRONE WITH PESTO

Don’t add the pasta until close to serving, because it will absorb the broth and get very boring. I’m not even convinced you need pasta at all, as long as you have potato and beans. Serves 4.

• 3 tbsp olive oil

• 2 celery stalks, sliced

• 1 onion, diced

• 2 carrots, chopped

• 2 medium potatoes, peeled and diced

• 2 garlic cloves, crushed

• 1.5 litres chicken or vegetable stock, heated

• sea salt and pepper

• 1 tbsp tomato paste

• 400g tinned borlotti beans, rinsed

• 2 zucchini, roughly chopped

• 200 g silverbeet or cavolo nero leaves, roughly chopped

• 50 g small dried soup pasta, cooked

• Pesto, parmesan and cracked black pepper for serving

Heat the olive oil in a large heavy-based pot, and add the celery, onion and carrot, cooking for 10 minutes until softened.

Add the potatoes, garlic, and the hot stock and bring to the boil, then lower the heat, add sea salt and pepper, and simmer, partly covered, for 30 minutes until all is tender.

Add tomato paste, beans, zucchini and leaves to the soup, and simmer for a further 10 minutes, or until the soup is nice and thick.

Add the cooked pasta and heat through for 2 or 3 minutes.

Serve in warm pasta bowls and top with a spoonful of pesto, grated parmesan and extra pepper. A big swirl of beautiful olive oil also works magic.

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And a big shout-out to all the cafes out there who are doing beautiful soups; we love you. This post was inspired by memory of the zuppa alla genovese I had so often at the original Dog’s Bar in Melbourne’s St Kilda, made by my friend Patrizia’s father. And also by the ‘mamma’s minestrone’ I had so often at the former Parmalat-then-Latteria in Sydney’s Darlinghurst. In further great news, this soup lives on at Tommaso’s Apache Salute in Rushcutter’s Bay, where, if you’re very nice, it will be served to you in a cup, so you don’t have to steal soup from your husband’s bowl.

Thanks for dropping by! And as always, thanks for your comments and opinionated thoughts. Special thanks to Terry for looking out the window and observing “it’s minestrone weather”. Yes, I know he did that last week. He’ll probably do it next week as well.

I would also like to acknowledge the traditional owners of the lands and waters upon which I work, live, cook and play; the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation. I fully support the Uluru Statement from the Heart, and for an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander voice to be enshrined in Australia’s Constitution. It’s only fair, folks.