Recipe - Simple Soup

Ingredients

• 5 to 6 Carrots
• 1 x small onion, leek or shallot
• 1 x medium sized potato
• 1 x small tin green lentils
• 1 to 1.5 Litres Vegetable Stock* (water will do)
• 1 x table spoon Oil
• Salt & Pepper to season
  

Preparation

• Finely chop the onion, leek or shallot
• Chop the potato in to small pieces (it is basically in the mix to 'thicken' the soup)
• Top & Tail the carrots and wash them thoroughly avoid peeling if you can. Chop carrots in to pieces about half inch (1.25 cm) in size
  
• Open the tin of lentils, drain and wash carefully. Tinned lentils can be very salty and need to be rinsed before use.
• Make up the stock. * If using one of the powdered stocks like Bouillon use approx 50% of the quantity recommended to avoid a very salty soup. The seasoning can be adjusted later.

Method

If you have access to a liquidiser or a hand/wand blender then follow METHOD A other wise follow METHOD B

METHOD A

1. Take a large saucepan - preferably a pressure cooker if you have one
2. add the oil and heat
3. add the onion/leek/shallot and fry for about a minute (don't let it burn)
4. add the carrot and potato and stir these round for a minute or so
5. add about a third of the lentils and stir these round as well
6. add the stock
1. If using a pressure cooker - follow the instructions for bringing the device up to pressure and then cook for 8 mins. Then turn off the heat and allow to lose pressure naturally.
1. If using a large saucepan - bring to the boil and then turn down heat and simmer for about 20 mins until the carrots are soft, Leave to cool
   
7. Now take the cooling soup and blend it either in a liquidiser (only half fill the goblet each time, and place the blended soup in a clean container or saucepan), or by using a hand blender. REMEMBER although cooling the soup is still very hot. Also if using a hand blender take care not to redecorate your kitchen - you may need to split the soup over two containers and blend each separately.
8. Place the blended soup back in the original pan and place over a medium heat
9. Add the remaining lentils and stir through the soup.
   
10. Check the seasoning and add a couple of twists of black pepper and if required a little more salt - remember extra salt & pepper can be added when the soup is served.
    
11. You can now heat the soup and enjoy or leave to cool completely and place in an air tight container and store in a fridge until required. However, because the soup has no preservatives it is best used up in 2-3days of making. It does freeze OK.
    

METHOD B

• Divide the carrots in to two pile on a roughly 60-40 split.
• Take the larger pile and cut all the pieces in half
• Take the smaller pile and chop as small as possible
• Now follow steps 1 - 6 of METHOD A
• Skip steps 7 & 8 and follow from step 9 onwards.

Serving Suggestions

Add a sprinkling of fresh tarragon if you have some
Serve with crusty bread, or ciabatta or focaccia (either 'plain' or flavoured with rosemary or tarragon)
But above all ENJOY!