Experimenting with new ingredients is fun, but sometimes all you want is to make a simple meal using what you can readily find in your kitchen cupboard.
This is the perfect soup for those occasions, as all you need is some oil, onions, smoked lean bacon, red lentils and a couple of cans of chopped tomatoes. Making croutons out of your bread is also a great way to make sure there’s no waste, as the bread can be a bit stale and still make for a great batch of crunchy croutons. Lentils are very nutritional and are great base ingredients for soups. There are many different varieties of lentils, this time we’ve opted with the red lentils as they’re best for thickening soups. Looking for more cooking inspiration? We have plenty of other tasty soup recipes for all occasions.
Ingredients
- 1tbsp oil
- 2 medium onions, peeled and chopped
- 200g smoked lean bacon, chopped
- 300g red lentils
- 2 x 400g cans chopped tomatoes
- For the croutons:
- 4 slices chunky bread, cut into small pieces
- 2tbsp olive oil
- 1tbsp snipped fresh rosemary
Method
Heat the oil in a large pan then cook the onions until soft. Add the bacon and let it cook through. Add the lentils, tomatoes and 800ml water with plenty of seasoning. Bring to the boil then simmer until the lentils are tender, about 40 minutes. Whizz with a stick blender. Serve with the croutons.
For the croutons, toss the bread in the oil and rosemary then bake in a hot oven until browned or cook in a frying pan.
