‘Silver Linings’ Soup

This is a recipe borrowed from a Hello Fresh box a few years ago. Although called a soup, it is essentially a chunky vegetable stew with lentils. It’s very filling, and cheap to make, and stretches over a good few portions. A family favourite and a wonderful winter warmer. Also a great recipe for substitutions – any roots vegetables would work well with this.

Ingredients:

• 1 tub pancetta
• 2 carrots, chopped into small pieces
• 2 celery sticks, chopped small
• 2 large potatoes, into 1cm cubes
• ½ red pepper, chopped small
• 1 tsp chilli flakes
• 1 garlic clove, diced
• 1 onion, chopped
• 6oz red split lentils
• 1 tin chopped tomatoes
• 1-2 vegetable stock cubes/pots
• 800ml hot water
• fresh coriander, chopped

Method:

1. Fry pancetta until crispy and browned, then place in a dish to one side.
2. Fry the chilli flakes, onion, and garlic in oil, until onion is softened, then add in the celery, carrot and pepper. This takes approx. 6mins.
3. Add the potato, and cook for a further 5mins.
4. Add water, with stock cubes dissolved in it. Then add the lentils, and leave to simmer for 20mins. Stir every now and again to prevent lentils from sticking to the bottom.
5. Near to serving, stir in the coriander.
6. Serve with a sprinkle of pancetta on top, alongside some buttered crusty bread, and maybe some soured cream.

There you go, an easy peasy soup, which is really just a lot chopping. If you prefer your soup smoother, then leave it to cool, and use a stick blender to create a soup to your own choosing of thickness.

Costs: from Tesco, the ingredients cost around £6.22. This makes around 4-5 portions, and would be cheaper elsewhere.