FH Alphie and I have soup for dinner at least once a week during winter. We have a few staples that make regular appearances, but I like to try out something new every once in a while. This is one of the new ones. Jamie's Ministry of Food gets a pretty good run for its money at our place, especially during the week. The recipes are generally simple, and a lot of the recipes are quick and tasty (we've had a few failures, but I'll save that for another time).
I thought that this soup was great, if maybe a bit spicy (only 1/2 a chilli next time I think), full of flavour and very filling.
FH Alphie rated it: 5.5/10
Lentil and spinach soup
from Jamie's Ministry of Food, pg 137
(serves 6)
- 2 carrots, chopped
- 2 sticks of celery, chopped
- 2 medium onions, roughly diced
- 2 cloves of garlic, chopped
- 2tbs olive oil
- a thumb size piece of ginger, finely sliced
- 1/2 - 1 chilli, sliced (to taste)
- 10 cherry tomatoes, halved
- 2L chicken or vegetable stock
- 300g dry red lentils
- 200g baby spinach
Heat oil in a large pan, over medium heat, add the carrot, celery, onion & garlic. Cokk for about 10 minutes, with the lid on, but askew, until the vegetables are soft, and the onion is starting to colour.
Add the ginger, chilli, tomatoes, stock and lentils, stir well and bring to the boil. Simmer for 10 minutes, until the lentils are cooked. Stir through the spinach until just wilted.
Serve with a dollop of natural/greek style yoghurt.
I made a few modifications, just to suit what we had to hand. I used 2 tomatoes, instead of the cherry tomatoes, and cut the into eight. Also, I only had 200g of lentils, and 120g (one box) of baby spinach. I reduced the stock to 1.5L to suit, as I didn't want the soup to be too watery.
-Alphie
