Serves 4

Ingredients

• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 4 rashers smoked bacon, diced
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 3 sticks celery, chopped
• 3 medium carrots, chopped
• 1 small potatoe, diced
• 100 gm split red lentils, rinsed well in cold water
• 1.2 litre water
• 1 tsp dried parsley
• 1 vegetable stock cube
• salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
• parsley, to garnish

Method

1. Pop the olive oil in a large saucepan on medium heat and fry the diced bacon for 2-3 minutes.
2. Throw in the onion and fry for another 2 minutes, stirring throughout.
3. Mix in the celery, carrots, potato and lentils and stir fry for a minute.
4. Next, pour in the water, dried parsley, vegetable stock cube and salt and freshly ground pepper to taste. Bring to the boil.
5. Then lower the heat and simmer, covered, for 35 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes to ensure that the mixture does not stick to the bottom of the pan.
6. You can serve this soup chunky, or you can liquidise the soup using a hand blender or an electric blender.
7. Garnish with parsley and enjoy!

Nutritional Value

(per serving)

Calories 265 kcal
Total Fat 23 gm
Saturated Fat 12 gm
Carbohydrates 18 gm
Fibre 2 gm
Protein 3 gm