Vegetable Soup with Green Lentils

Today we were supposed to apply the first of the two last coats of our new nonskid, which included not only painting but also dusting with Intergrip. Of course, when we least needed it, contrary to the calm that prevailed the last couple of days, we’ve been harassed by quite a breeze since the previous evening. Nevertheless, the spirits were still high and we hoped that by noon the wind might calm down and we would be able to finish the job after all. So we needed something to satisfy our hungry stomachs but at the same time something light, in case the weather really started to cooperate. Apart from that, we were left with an oddly shaped, slightly stale piece of bread, so it was decided that for today’s lunch we would have a quick soup with bread croutons. The following recipe was adapted from the previously praised The Bean Book.

PS: The nonskid post will follow up soon!

Ingredients:

• 100g green lentils (soaked in advance)
• 1 onion diced
• 1 clove of garlic
• 2 carrots diced
• 150g mushrooms
• 2 tomatoes diced
•  2 sticks of celery
• salt, pepper, bay leaf, parsley, thyme
• olive oil
• 100g spinach (or 2 cups of diced cabbage)
• 0.5 l vegetable stock or water (we like our soup more thick)

Method:

1. Using the olive oil (or butter), fry the onion and garlic, add the rest of the vegetables (except spinach), mushrooms and lentils, stir, pour in the stock, add salt, pepper and all the herbs and cook until the lentils are done. In our pressure cooker it takes about 8 minutes.
2. Meanwhile brown the croutons using a non-stick frying pan.
3. When the lentils are done, add the spinach, cook for a minute or two, adjust the taste.
4. Divide into plates, sprinkle with croutons and grated cheese.