Complex And Creamy Lentil & Bacon Soup

Total Time: 40 mins Preparation Time: 10 mins Cook Time: 30 mins

Ingredients

• Servings: 2
• 4 cups water
• 1 cup green lentils or 1 cup brown lentils
• 1 medium onion
• 3 garlic cloves
• 1 (400 g) can chopped tomatoes
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 small beetroot (raw)
• 1 medium carrot
• 1 medium potato
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 1 teaspoon dried basil
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 chicken stock cube
• 6 whole black peppercorns
• 4 cloves
• 4 slices rindless smoked streaky bacon
• 4 tablespoons double cream (as a garnishing touch) (optional)

Recipe

• 1 chop onion and garlic finely. saute -medium heat- in olive oil for 5 minutes. if it starts to burn, sprinkle some water.
• 2 add the cumin to the onion. saute for 2 more minutes.
• 3 apart, in a deep pan, put the lentils with the water and bring to boil. boil vigorously for 10 minutes.
• 4 whilst the lentils are boiling, add the tomatoes to the onion sauce. bring the heat to low and simmer for 7 to 10 minutes.
• 5 add the basil, thyme, paprika, cloves and pepper to the sauce.
• 6 meanwhile, dice the beetroot, potato and carrot.
• 7 when the 10 minutes of the boiling lentils have concluded, add the remaining vegetables. bring the heat low to simmer.
• 8 add the sauce to the lentils.
• 9 add the cube of chicken stock.
• 10 simmer for 20 minutes.
• 11 turn the heat off and blend. if the blender is too full you can do it in two batches. remember: is a hot soup, so it will tend to be explosive in the blender.
• 12 bring back to the pan.
• 13 if the cream is too thick, add more water to make the soup the desired consistency.
• 14 chop the bacon in pieces.
• 15 in a pan, fry it without oil until golden/brown.
• 16 when serving the soup, add the pieces of bacon to every dish. stir them inches
• 17 sprinkle each dish with a tablespoon of doublecream.
• 18 voilá!