Heat the olive oil over a medium to high heat.

Add the thyme, bay leaf and parsley stalks and stir, cooking for a minute or two to infuse the oil.

Add diced onions, carrots, celery and swede. Cook for 10–15 minutes stirring often, until softened and smelling good.

Add the plum tomatoes. Cook for a couple more minutes before adding 2 litre of water (or stock), vinegar and the kale stalks. Bring to the boil.

Add shredded kale and orzo.

Reduce to a simmer and cook for another 10–15 minutes, allowing all the flavours to infuse.

During this time, make the dumplings.

Dry fry the spices in a frying pan until they start to crackle. Remove and grind in a pestle and mortar.

Wash the spinach and then wilt in a nonstick frying pan over a medium heat. There should be enough residual water on the spinach to mean that you don’t need to add any oil or water. After a couple of minutes, once wilted, transfer the spinach to a sieve and leave over the sink to drain. Press down on the leaves with a wooden spoon to squeeze out any excess water. Once cooled and drained, chop finely.

Place the ricotta in a bowl and add all of the other ingredients.

Season with salt and pepper and stir well to combine and incorporate all the ingredients.

Oil your hands lightly with olive oil and shape them into meatball sized balls.

Poach them in the minestrone. Alternatively, you could bring a pan of water to the boil and cook them in the boiling water for 5 minutes, until they float – removing them with a slotted spoon.

Serve minestrone with dumplings and garnishes.