Lentil & bacon soup

Hearty, healthy, filling and CHEAP!

A hug in a bowl kind of soup that's cheap as chips and dead tasty to boot. Perfect for a slightly grey chilly January day (or any day really!) and quite simple too, mainly using veg I generally have hanging around the fridge. It also reheats and freezes well, so it's worth upping the quantities so you have leftovers for another day.

You could purée this at the end if you like, but I prefer it left chunky. Also feel free to swap the potato for sweet potato or butternut squash. And obviously if you prefer a vegetarian soup then just leave out the bacon, in which case can I suggest adding some ginger and Indian spices?⠀

Serves 4

Ingredients⠀

1tbsp olive oil

About 100g diced pancetta or streaky bacon, chopped

2 onions, diced

1-2 sticks celery, diced

2 carrots, diced

1 large potato, diced

2 cloves garlic, finely chopped

300g red lentils

1 tin chopped tomatoes

1.5l vegetable stock

Black pepper

Method

1. Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan then add the pancetta or bacon and fry until the fat runs and it starts to crisp a bit
2. Add the diced onions, celery, carrot and potato and cook gently until nice and soft (about 10-15 mins) 

3. Add some chopped garlic and cook for a minute or two then stir in plenty of red lentils, tinned chopped tomatoes, stock or water and a good grinding of black pepper. 

4. Simmer gently until the potato and lentils are both cooked through - about 20mins or so - stir from time to time to keep the lentils from sticking and keep an eye on the liquid in case you need to add more stock. Adjust the liquid to get the consistency of soup you would like.