McKenzie's Hearty Vegetable Soup

With everything going on in the world right now, we wanted to get in touch and share some comforting, wholesome recipes from McKenzie's to help your readers cook with ease at home in the coming months, using simple ingredients they'll likely already have in their pantry. 

If you're finding it hard to purchase meat from the supermarket, pulses such as lentils, beans, and peas are a great substitute as they're a great source of protein and fibre with a long shelf life.

Preparation Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 60 minutes
Serves: 6

Ingredients
3/4 cup McKenzie's Soup Mix, rinsed
2 tbsp olive oil
1 onion
2 rashers bacon, diced
2 carrots, diced
1 celery stick, chopped
3-4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 litre chicken or vegetable stock
1 1/2 cups water
2 potatoes, diced
1 bay leaf
1 sprig rosemary
2 zucchini, sliced
100g silverbeet or spinach, shredded
To taste, McKenzie's Australian Natural Sea Salt Grinder
To taste, McKenzie's Whole Black Peppercorn Grinder
Grated parmesan, for serving

Method
Prepare soup mix according to on-pack preparation instructions and set aside.
Heat the oil in a large pot and add onion, bacon, carrots, celery and garlic, cooking until onion is just tender.
Pour in the stock, water, Soup Mix, potatoes and herbs. Bring to the boil and simmer for approximately 45 minutes.
Add zucchini and silverbeet and cook for a further 5 minutes until vegetables are tender. Season to taste and serve with parmesan.

Tips:
Try a dollop of pesto when serving soup.
Substitute bacon with ham hock or bacon bones. shred the meat from the hock and add to the soup.
Try adding chard or covolo nero in place of spinach or silverbeet.
Use any other favourite vegetables such as pumpkin, cauliflower, green beans or capsicum.