Lentil Soup with Lemon and Garlic

Here is a soup you can cook on the stove then puree in a Vita-Mix blender.  The recipe calls for 4 cups of broth but I thought it needed a bit more so I added two additional cups.  Lentils are a good complex carbohydrate, making this a satisfying and sustaining soup.  We love having soup in the fridge for a quick go to meal!

Lentil Soup with Lemon and Garlic  (The Ultimate Book of Vegan Cooking)

3            tablespoons olive oil

1            onion, chopped

2            celery sticks, chopped

1-2         carrots, sliced

4            garlic cloves, chopped

1            potato, peeled and diced

1            cup red lentils picked over and rinsed

4-6         cups vegetable stock  (I used 6 cups)

2            bay leaves

1-2         lemons, halved

1/2         teaspoon ground cumin, or to taste cayenne pepper or Tabasco sauce, to

              taste

              ground black pepper

              lemon slices and chopped fresh flat leaf parsley, to garnish

Heat the oil in a large pan. Add the onion and cook for 5 minutes. Stir in the celery, carrots, half the garlic and all the potato.  Cook for a few minutes until beginning to soften.

Add the lentils and stock to the pan and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat, cover and simmer for 30 minutes

Add the bay leaves, remaining garlic and half the lemons to the pan and cook the soup for a further 10 minutes, until the lentils and vegetables are tender.  Remove the bay leaves. Squeeze the juice from the remaining lemons, then stir into the soup, to taste.

Pour the soup into a food processor or blender and process until smooth.  (You may need to do this in batches.)  Transfer the soup back to the pan, stir into the cumin, cayenne pepper or Tabasco sauce, and season to taste.

Ladle the soup into bowls and top each portion with lemon slices and a sprinkling of chopped fresh flat leaf parsley.