Green Lentil and Bacon Soup

This weather sucks.

However, it does mean that I'm spending a lot more time in the kitchen trying out recipes from the cookbooks I received over Christmas and, my favourite so far has got to be 'Big Table, Busy Kitchen: 200 Recipes for Life' by Allegra McEvedy. 

Allegra co-founded Leon which, is one of my favourite places to grab a quick and healthy lunch when I'm in London. I haven't put this book down since I unwrapped it on Christmas Day - there are so many yummy recipes in there that I'm going to have to try out and, share with my readers along the way.

The first one is a healthy one. When I'm trying to be 'good' I tend to turn to soups. Salads are great but nothing beats a nice homemade soup, especially when the weather is this rubbish.

You will need

4 rashers of bacon, chopped into small pieces (or a 100g of lardons)

1 onion, chopped

2 garlic cloves, chopped

2 tbsp chopped Rosemary

250g green lentils

1.2 litres of chicken stock

2 big handfuls of spinach

Salt & Pepper

Glug of olive oil

Tablespoon of natural yoghurt

I've added a couple of extra ingredients. You don't need to but, I had some things in my fridge that I needed to use up. 

2 mushrooms

1 small red chilli

Using a heavy-bottomed saucepan, heat up your olive oil and fry your bacon bits until they're beginning to crisp. Chuck in the onion, garlic, mushrooms and rosemary and fry for a few minutes.

Add the lentils and chilli then, give it all a big stir. 

Pour the stock in, and bring to a simmer, cover and let it it bubble away for around 45 minutes. 

Blitz a third of it in a blender or with a stick blender. Then put it back in the saucepan. Roughly chop up the spinach and chuck it in. Season with plenty of salt and pepper.

 Serve with a tablespoon of yoghurt and enjoy!

It should stop you thinking about the weather outside for a while. If not, eat some more and save some for your lunch - perfect for taking into work.