Lentil Soup
Full of flavour and comforting on a cold day...one of our favourite soups that freezes well too!
Ingredients
- 5 ham stock cubes (I like Knorr - see Notes)
- 2 l (8 ½ cups) boiling water
- 155 g (5.5 oz) unsmoked bacon lardons (see Notes)
- 2 large or 3 medium carrots (approx. 300g), peeled and diced into 1cm pieces
- 300 g (10.6 oz) swede peeled and diced into 1cm pieces
- 1 large leek (approx. 340g), halved lengthways and thinly sliced
- 200 g (1 ¼ cups) red lentils rinsed
- salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
Instructions
- In a large jug, crumble and dissolve the stock cubes in 2 litres of boiling water.
- Heat a large soup or casserole pot on a medium heat, and add the bacon lardons. Fry until the bacon starts to colour (2 to 3 minutes). If the lardons are quite lean, add a small amount of olive oil (approx. 1 tsp).
- Add the diced carrots, swede, sliced leeks, rinsed lentils and stock. Bring to the boil and then reduce to a gentle simmer – cook for 30 minutes. Stir occasionally and skim off any scum that appears at the top.
- Season to taste, blend (if you wish - see Notes) and enjoy with some homemade bread or savoury scones.
Notes
- For vegetarians, use vegetable stock cubes or pots and leave out the bacon.
- It can be left as a chunky soup or you could blend (using a hand blender) the whole lot for a smooth soup, or blend half so that you still have some chunks of vegetables – the choice is yours.
- If you can’t get bacon lardons, use unsmoked back or streaky bacon and chop it up.
Nutrition
Calories: 333kcal | Carbohydrates: 35g | Protein: 16g | Fat: 14g | Saturated Fat: 5g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.3g | Monounsaturated Fat: 0.2g | Cholesterol: 37mg | Sodium: 1240mg | Potassium: 663mg | Fiber: 13g | Sugar: 7g | Vitamin A: 4968IU | Vitamin C: 22mg | Calcium: 93mg | Iron: 4mg
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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