Hearty bacon & lentil soup
A filling and hearty soup packed with savoury bacon and creamy red lentils. Enjoy with sourdough toast for a complete meal. An economic supper that everyone will enjoy. use whatever bacon – back, streaky, smoked, unsmoked – that you have to hand.
Ingredients
- 6 rashers Helen Browning’s organic bacon
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 large onion, peeled and chopped
- 1 carrot, peeled and chopped
- 2 celery sticks, chopped
- 2 garlic cloves, crushed
- 150g red lentils, rinsed and drained
- 400g tin chopped tomatoes
- 1 litre vegetable or chicken stock
- sourdough toast, to serve
Method
Cut the trimmed bacon into 2cm pieces. Put the olive oil in a large saucepan set over a low-medium heat and add most of the bacon, onion, carrot and celery. Cook gently for 10 minutes, until soft and sweet. Stir in the garlic and cook for 5 minutes more.
Meanwhile, fry the rest of the bacon in a little oil until crispy and leave to cool.
Add the red lentils to the saucepan with the vegetables, followed by the tinned tomatoes and stock. Bring to the boil then reduce the heat slightly. Cover with a lid and leave the soup to simmer for 25-30 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the lentils are very soft and the soup has thickened. If it looks too thick or starts to catch on the base, add a little water. Season to taste, remembering the bacon and stock are already quite salty. At this stage you can liquidise the soup, if you like, or leave it chunky.
Crumble the crisp bacon and sprinkle on top of each bowlful.