A soup to sustain through a week of lunches. One of those days where I wasn’t sure what it was, that I was going to cook. Popped into the butchers and the assistant is on me within seconds, I should have asked for a little more time and so I felt a little pressured around some stewing lamb of all things. Hopeful that we would have the other ingredients at home.
Probably not the most authentic way to create a broth, however this is delicious and easy soup recipe that will last you through the week.
red split lentils – 150g rinsed
onion – 1 diced
stewing Lamb – 200g diced thinly
cauliflower leaves (optional)
garlic – 1 clove
curry powder – 1 tsp
carrots – 2
tin of tomatoes – 400g
courgette (optional)
stock – 1 litre
tin of kidney beans – 400g, drained and rinsed
pearl barley – 100g
Prep beforehand:
- Rinse and soak your lentils is an optional thing you can do, at least 30 mins.
- The Cauliflower leaves are really optional and my way of not wasting some really tasty leaves.
- Dice the lamb even further if you have a good knife. Looking for nice soup size pieces.
- Depending on your cauliflower, remove the outer leaves that have seen better days with a view to getting at the nice clean leaves. I find slicing the bottom away helps to get in there. Then prise the rest away. These need dicing.
- Peel and dice the carrots.
- Any other veg, hanging about in the fridge you want to use up. I had half a courgette looking for a home.
Method:
In a large saucepan, gently heat a glug of olive oil and soften the onion
Add the lamb and cook through. Two minutes or so.
Add the Cauliflower leaves, carrots and stir through.
Add the spice, just adding a little back note of flavour and stir through
Add the tomatoes, stock, kidney beans, lentils and barley, bring to a simmer
Place the lid on and then lower the heat, bringing the soup to just putter away for at least 30 minutes until the barley is nice and soft. Give it a stir every so often so as to stop the lentils and barley catching on the bottom