Minestronesque soup

Rifling through the fridge and glaring in the freezer revealed the motley ingredients for an almost-minestrone soup. I give you - Minestronesque Soup! Also a couple of days ago I tried out gluten-free girl's dinner rolls. There was a bit of fiddling with the baking (my oven is cranky), but now once toasted and buttered I have these rather flavoursome, chewy and crispy yet dense scone-like things. I like them, although I'm not entirely sure what they are. They accompany soup nicely, anyhow.

Butter and olive oil
1 onion, finely diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 courgette, finely diced
2 sticks celery, finely diced
2 carrots, finely diced
1 small potato, finely cubed
1/4 tin cooked red kidney beans
1/2 tin tomatoes
Hot water
1/2 vegetable stock cube
1 tbsp tomato purée
1-2 tsp marjoram
1-2 tsp thyme
1 tsp ground paprika
Seasalt
Black pepper

Put a large pan on a medium-low heat, and add a tablespoon or two of butter and a couple of olive oil. (I like to use a little butter for flavour and make up required cooking fat with some plain olive oil.)

Add the onion and garlic, and sauté for a few minutes while preparing the next vegetable. Repeat this step to add the courgette, then celery, then carrots.

Stir in the potato, kidney beans and tomatoes. Break up tomato into pieces with a blunt-ended stirring utensil if they're not already chopped.

Pour in enough hot water to cover the ingredients and bring to a simmer. Dissolve stock cube in a little hot water and add to taste.

Squeeze in the tomato purée and stir in. Add herbs, spices and other seasonings, adjusting to taste. Add a little more water if required, then leave to simmer for a good half hour.

Serve up with extra black pepper, and toast a few dinner rolls before slicing and buttering them as accompaniment.