I love soups. They are healthy (usually), hearty and satisfying, especially in cooler weather. I also love them as lunches to take to work as a healthy alternative to cafe food or takeaways.
The other day I was craving soup, but I wanted something different instead of my go to soup, minestrone. So, I decided to make a vegetable and lentil soup.
Lentils are a pulse that come from the seed of the annual plant lens culinaris. They have been used in the human diet since the stone age and low in fat, high in protein and high in fibre. Health wise lentils contain a source of cholesterol lowering fibre, help regulate blood sugar and are one of the best vegetable sources of iron. Their iron content is particularly important for vegetarians or anyone suffering from iron deficiency, such as myself, and can be used in a variety of recipes from salads, vegetarian sausage rolls, and, of course, soups.
For my vegetable and lentil soup recipe I used du puy, or French green lentils and in France they are known as the poor mans caviar. French green lentils are dark green, almost black, in colour.
Vegetable and Lentil Soup
Ingredients
- 1 onion diced
- 1 leek sliced finely
- 4 cloves of garlic peeled and chopped
- 2 teaspoons of dried thyme
- 2 carrots peeled and diced
- 6 mushrooms diced
- 2 stalks of celery sliced
- 1 tin of chopped Italian tomatoes
- 1 cup of French green lentils
- 60 g of rocket leaves washed
- 1/4 cup of chopped dill
- 1.5 litres of vegetable stock
- 1 tablespoon of olive oil
Instructions
- Warm a large pot and add the olive oil,garlic, onion and leek and cook until the onion begins to turn translucent.
- Add the celery, carrot, thyme and mushrooms and cook for a few minutes until the carrot begins to soften.
- Then add the tinned tomatoes, lentils and stock and stir well. Cover and cook for 25 to 30 minutes. Season to taste.
- Before serving add the rocket and dill. Serve with warm crusty bread.
This looks Yum! Can’t wait to try it!!
This looks great! Definitely going to try it out soon as I love my lentils and my veggies… 🙂 Great blog you have here!
This was just delicious! I added tiny bit of parmesan and lemon juice at the end. Thank you for a very healthy meal 🙂
I'm so glad you enjoyed the soup as much as we did zceren. Thanks for stopping by and letting me know how it went. 🙂
I love Lentil Soups, personally I have been on a bean kick lately and this looks amazing.
Thanks for your comments and stopping by Kathy 🙂
This looks seriously good.. just my kind of stew, packed full of veggies and delicious lentils!! Love the addition of rocket… so good!!
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Thanks for your kind words. 🙂
I loved the rocket in the soup. Not only did it make the whole dish more colourful and appealing to the eyes, it added a lovely pepperiness to the soup. It's a perfect soup for winter.
J'adore French green lentils. I will be putting this on my list of recipes to try.
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looks gorgeously healthy and warming. I might try this for work lunch too!
I love soups too and yours looks so wholesome and delicious! The addition of rocket is interesting…
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Thank you for sharing the recipe. Put together a pot of this soup tonight for dinner. It was wonderful—I mean really wonderful. Nice balance of flavors and spice. Best soup recipe I've made in a while.
Thanks so much for your kind comments. I'm so glad you enjoyed the recipe. It's such a satisfying soup.
What a lovely soup. Lentil soup has to be one of my favorites – so hearty and delicious, especially with the addition of sweet carrots!
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Lentils are one of my most favorite legumes! This soup looks fantastic. It would so hit the spot right now.
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This recipe has been featured as part of the Meatless Monday recipe roster on Blistree
http://blisstree.com/eat/meatless-monday-recipe-r…
What a great combination of flavors! YUM! I can't wait to try this!
xxMK
Delightful Bitefuls
That looks incredibly inviting and I can tell by the closeup that it's absolutely packed with flavours and textures 🙂
Thanks Lorraine 🙂
I always get intimated by vegeterians because that was something I wanted to do but just could never find the the will to. But I totally love lentils. What an a great job you done here! 🙂
Thanks for stopping by my blog!
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Wow, this is just the one I was looking for, being a vegetarian I am always looking for new recipes, I guess this will also go very well with some flat breads. Thanks for the recipe.
I'm always looking for good sources of iron, and this looks delicious! Beautiful photos, all the veggies look so good! Thank you!
Thanks Michelle. I'm always looking for good sources of iron too and am extremely happy when I find something that is not only good for you, but delicious, like lentils.