A particularly beautiful savoy cabbage was the inspiration for this soup, but you can make it your own with your favourite green leafy vegetables when they are in season – try sweetheart cabbage and spring greens when available.
Use a nice big heavy-based pan to slowly cook and hold the heat evenly through the soup, and cut all your vegetables to about the same size so they cook evenly.
Ingredients
Serves 6–8
2–3 tablespoons olive oil
150g bacon lardons or thick-cut dry cured bacon cut into matchsticks
1 small onion, chopped
4 garlic cloves, crushed
1 leek, sliced
1 celery stick, sliced
2 carrots, peeled and sliced
¼ celeriac, peeled and diced
¼ swede, peeled and diced
125g Puy lentils, rinsed and drained
1.3 litres vegetable stock
400g can chopped tomatoes
11½ tablespoons tomato purée
¼ small savoy cabbage or other greens (cut as a chiffonade, long and very fine)
a small handful of chopped fresh parsley
a small handful of chopped fresh thyme
salt and freshly ground black pepper
Method
1. Put the olive oil in a large heavy-based saucepan, add the bacon, onion and garlic and cook until the onion is softened and the bacon is just cooked.
For this hearty lentil soup, cut all your vegetables to about the same size so they cook evenlyCandice Bell/Shutterstock
2. Add the leek, celery, carrots, celeriac and swede to the pan, along with the Puy lentils. Stir to coat all the vegetables with the oil so that they absorb a little and glisten slightly, then pour over the stock and chopped tomatoes and season with salt and pepper. Put the lid on the pan and simmer very gently for about 15 minutes – you do not need to have each element of this soup holding its own.
3. Draw the pan off the heat and stir in the tomato purée, greens and chopped fresh herbs. Return to the heat and simmer until the greens are just tender but still retain a little crunch.
4. Ladle the soup into rustic bowls, to serve.
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Winter Warmers is a cookbook published by Ryland Peters & Small (£14.99)
