Autumn Carrot and Lentil Soup

Faced with the prospect of no heating, due to a boiler service tomorrow when I am working from home, I just had to make a warming soup to hold the cold at bay. The one soup I return to over and over again is Carrot & Lentil Soup. I discovered this recipe when I was about 14 and had just become a vegetarian. It was in a little recipe book sold by Boots the Chemist back in the days when they had a cookshop. Another great thing about this soup is that with a tiny change in ingredients it becomes a wonderful moroccan soup.

The soup is not very photogenic, so you can have Autumn leaves instead!

Ingredients

1 onion, chopped

3 medium carrots, chopped

Butter

Flour, a dessert spoon

100g red lentils (wash them first in a sieve)

1.2 litres of vegetable stock

Bay leaf

Method

1. Melt the butter in a large pan. I use the bottom of my steamer as it is really deep.

2. Add in your chopped carrots and onion and cook gently until the onion is soft - around 3-5 minutes.

3. Add in a dessert spoon of flour and the washed red lentils.

4. After a minute or so of stirring the mixture, add the vegetable stock and a bay leaf.

5. Bring to the boil, and then let simmer for around 30 minutes.

6. Allow to cool a little, then liquidise. You can either do this in a food processor which gives a chunkier soup, or a liquidiser or a hand blender which both give smoother results. Add salt and pepper to taste and a little lemon juice.

To make the Moroccan soup:

Add a couple of cloves of garlic to the carrots and onions (stage 2)

Add a teaspoon of ground cumin, chilli powder and ground coriander at stage 3

Optional: add some fresh chopped coriander to the finished soup.

The credit for the Moroccan addition comes from the Sainsburys Magazine.

Love Mrs Jones x