Minestrone with paprika and lemon juice

Sorry, but I just can't post a real recipe today. Forgive me.

On Monday I was hit by a bout of the stomach flu and am luckily on my way to recovery. Still, I don't really want to eat food, see food, smell food, cook food, write about food or even read about it. Hence, I cannot bring myself to post the recipe I had planned. All I can think about eating these days is warm and comforting soups and sour fruit like green apples and unripe plums. My figure has greatly benefited, if not my blog.

Here is a little soup that came together as a combination of my two yearnings: a chunky vegetable noodle soup with an extra ingredient, lemon juice. I thought I was being original but I later found out the Internet is teaming with recipes for minestrone with lemon juice. Who knew?

Ingredients

assorted vegetables

coarse salt

pepper corns

olive oil

fresh herbs

water

paprika

lemon juice

pasta

I chopped up all the left over vegetables I had in my fridge, from spring onions to carrots, tomatoes and lots of wilted celery. I cut them all up into big chunks and let them bubble away on the stove with water, coarse salt, pepper corns and olive oil. When the vegetables were soft and the liquid nice and aromatic, I added in plenty of sweet paprika and the juice from half a lemon, to give it a nice and sour twist. I also threw in a few handfuls of wilted herbs I had lying around, some dill and some coriander. Finally, I poured in a cup of pastina (smaller pasta for soups), but you can use larger kinds or break up spaghetti or several varieties and throw them in together. It is a great way to use up almost empty bags of pasta. Et voilà, a lovely minestrone with an extra punch of flavor.

By the way, I am still having problems leaving comments on Blogger blogs (mine included). Sometimes they show up and sometimes they don't. So just to let you know, I have been reading all your comments on my blog and your posts.