Preparation
Soften the mushrooms in cool water. Rinse the beans and drain them.Clean and rinse the aubergine then dice it and place it in a colander, sprinkle with salt and leave them aside for 15 minutes.Trim and clean the French beans, rinse them and cut them into three chunks. Trim and rinse the courgettes then slice them.Wash the tomatoes, deseed them and chop them. Remove the core from the Savoy, wash the leaves and chop slice them into strips.Peel and rinse the potatoes and the carrots then chop them coarsely. Clean the celery, peel the onion and slice the celery and chop the onion finely.Put all these vegetables in a saucepan, pour 2 litres of water in it, add the drained and chopped mushrooms, the marjoram and the peeled garlic, bring to the boil and season with salt.Simmer for an hour, add the pasta, 2 tbsp of oil and simmer for another 10 minutes.In the meanwhile mix the basil, a pinch of salt, the remaining oil and some parmesan in a food blender.Pour the minestrone into the soup tureen and add the basil sauce; mix well and serve it either warm or cool.