roast tomato x lentil soup

I love love love yellow lentils and by adding them to a tomato soup, makes it lovely and thick as well as very nutritious.

It’s a pretty simple recipe and should only take about 30 minutes to put it all together.

So here is my take on the classic tomato soup!

Ingredients

Large tomatoes x 4 – 6, chopped into quarters.

Can of tomatoes (organic if possible)

Yellow lentils – 1 cup

Onion – red or brown, finely chopped.

Garlic – either 2 gloves minced or finely chopped. Alternatively 1 – 2 teaspoons of minced

Olive oil – 2 tablespoons

Basil – handful of bail leaves, chopped

500mls of vegetable stock water.

*Optional frozen spinach/kale - 2-4 cubes

*Optional nutritional yeast - 2 tablespoons

*Optional 2 teaspoons of a sweetener.. .like coconut sugar, maple syrup or agave. Avoid white sugar or soft brown sugar (aka white death).

Roast the tomatoes

Cut into quarters, 4 - 6 large tomatoes and drizzle with olive oil. Season with salt. Option to add a teaspoon of good quality sugar to bring out the flavour of the tomatoes a bit more.

Add the tomatoes to a baking tray and bake for about 30 minutes, fan forced oven at 180 degrees, until the tomatoes have a slight char to their edges.

Soup

In a large pot, add the olive oil and onion, lightly pan fry.

Add the minced garlic and stir for a minute or so.

Add the can of tomatoes and bring to a simmer.

Add the cup yellow lentils

Add the vegetable stock water.

*Optional add the frozen spinach or dale

Add 1 - 2 teaspoons of preferred sweetener

Add the some of the basil leaves to the soup – leaving aside a few to add for serving.

Simmer for a bout 5-10 minutes until the yellow lentils are soft.

*For a "cheezier-like" soup, add nutritional yeast. It has a lovely umani flavour which can really uplift a dish.

Nutritional Yeast is not likely normal brewers yeast. Nutritional yeast has undergone a heating and drying process so it is not 'active'. It is highly nutritious and is a complete protein. It has fibre so great for digestion and also has antioxidants, which benefit skin, hair and nails.

Blending the soup

There are a couple of options here.

If you can manage to blend the soup still hot, go for it. You might need to position the blender lid slightly open to allow the steam to be released.

Otherwise, put your soup mixture in the fridge to cool first, then blend.

Which ever you choose, add the majority of your roast tomatoes to the soup.

Finishing touches

Once the soup is blended, put it back into the pot and heat.

For serving, add a couple of roast tomatoes and basil leaves.

Enjoy! x