VEGAN COMFORT FOOD: BEST EVER LENTIL SOUP, Vegan with Carnivore Option

This one's for lovers of green lentils and is a 5-star wonder

Best Ever Lentil Soup
The best lentil soup 67goingon50 has ever encountered; superb flavour and texture.' Blogger 

first posted Nov 2015
This lentil soup is a real winner. 

It's a Double Duty Dish (DDD) and to make life even easier, there's no divvying up of the base.  The vegetarian and meat options are served separately, on the side.  

It's also a Cook Clever dish; even half a recipe gives plenty of leftovers which can be frozen. 

Adapted from the incomparable Ina Garten* and made with green lentils, the soup's ingredients are beautifully balanced.   It's heavy on chopped vegetables but they give the soup its distinctive character.  A good sharp knife makes short work of the onions but if you have a food processor, you can use the coarse blade.  Dried lentils are recommended.

For vegetarians, a sprinkling of parmesan or rice crackers ensures a good balance of amino acids.  Or add a good vegetarian frankfurter like Tivali.   

If you're a meat eater, the addition of a spicy Polish sausage like kielbasa, or shards of ham hock, or sliced chicken frankfurters, takes it to higher level. 

A big tureen of Best Ever Lentil Soup makes a wonderful party dish. Trust me, they'll love it.

Cost: £3.50 + garnishes
Serves: a large crowd; for family, halve the recipe or make the lot and freeze half for a busier time

Ingred:
      
    16 oz/450gm green lentils  
    
    3 lge yellow onions (about 600 gm/21 oz  small dice
    2 lge leeks, whites only (600 gm/21 oz) small dice
    3 cloves garlic, grated
    1 tbsp fresh or 1 tsp dried thyme
    1 tsp cumin
    min 1 tsp  - max 1 tbsp salt
    1 1/2 tsp pepper
    
    8 stalks celery (10 1/2 oz/300 g) peeled and in small dice
    4-6 med carrots, scrubbed and in small dice
    5.3 pints/3 litres good stock (home-made if poss, chicken for pref)
    min 1 - max 2 oz/ min 30 - max 60 ml tomato puree
    2 tbsp red wine/ red wine vinegar/grape juice

Method:

1. Cover lentils with boiling water, leave for 25 mins. Drain and rinse
2. Leeks: slice the white part down the middle, making two vertical halves; cut each in half horizontally; lay flat sides down on a chopping board and cut into four strips, then into small dice.  Rinse thoroughly.  
3. In a large heavy bottomed pan, saute onions, leeks, garlic, thyme, cumin, salt & pepper in a couple of tablespoons of olive oil, over medium heat. Cook 20 mins or until very tender, stirring occasionally to prevent catching.
4. Add lentils, celery, carrots, stock, tomato puree, red wine/red wine vinegar/grape juice and stock
5. Cover & bring to the boil; bubble hard for 5 mins; reduce heat to med low; uncover; simmer at a soft bubble one hour or until lentils cooked through.  
6. Serve with cheese or meat options on the side

Tips:

• The soup can be served over white rice, or with a handful of washed rice added to the mix in step 3 
• Vegetables like broccoli and cauliflower, either cooked in or added to the soup, will ring the changes 

*Ina Garten The Barefoot Contessa,  daily & Mon 9 pm on Freeview 41 & Food Network
                    
             
   

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(Questions & comments, pls email  b67goingon50@yahoo.co.uk 

and say if they can be included in the blog)

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This recipe has been adapted by B M Lee/ Bright Sun Enterprises.  It may not be reproduced without the author's written permission.