How to make Clodagh McKenna's Italian minestrone soup

WHEN I lived in northern Italy I made minestrone soup all the time. It’s packed with wholesome vegetables, with aromatic flavours of garlic, oregano and sweet tomatoes. I add in cannellini beans, though substituting them with chickpeas makes the soup very nourishing. A mix of half-and-half works, too. I tend to double or treble my recipe and then freeze the extra soup in small containers — it always works, so it’s good to have on hand.

I love tucking into this soup with my rosemary “Clodagh” bread, which is my take on traditional soda bread. It’s so simple to make — just weigh, mix, shape and bake. You’ll need 350g wholemeal flour, 200g white flour, two teaspoons of bicarbonate of soda, one tablespoon of finely chopped fresh rosemary, 350ml milk and 250ml natural yogurt.

Preheat your oven to 220C (gas mark 7). Sieve the white flour, bicarbonate of soda and salt into a large mixing bowl, then stir in the wholemeal flour. Using clean hands, mix the flours and the finely chopped rosemary together and make a well in the centre of the bowl. Whisk together the yogurt and milk and slowly pour into this well. Use a fork to mix the liquid into the flour — make sure there are no dry lumps and ensure the dough is completely wet. Pat your hands with flour and shape the dough into one round, then place on a floured baking tray.

Next, flour a large knife and cut a cross into the top of the dough, about two thirds of the way through. Brush the bread with the milk and yogurt mixture, which gives a lovely golden colour to the bread once its baked. Lastly, sprinkle fresh rosemary and sea salt on top of the bread.