Recipe: leek, carrot and red lentil soup

 

Leek, carrot and red lentil soup

Ingredients for one good portion.
one leek, washed and shopped - mine was ready trimmed and not too stout
one medium sized carrot, washed, topped and tailed and chopped
one and a half tbsp red lentils
around 300mls of good chicken stock
garlic and onion granules, Cajun spice, salt and pepper to taste.  The spice gives a bit of a kick so be careful
a splash of milk to slacken, if needed

Method.
Put everything into a pan, bring to a boil, cover and simmer until everything is soft.
Blend until the consistency you want.  I like mine smooth.
If it's too thick, add a splash of milk.
Reheat until just under boiling and serve.

The leek and carrot are speed, the lentils are protein, the stock and seasonings are free and the milk can be from a healthy extra or measure it and syn it.

A note about the stock.
Obviously the better the stock, the tastier the soup.  I used home made stock made by boiling up a chicken carcass, straining and then reducing down to around two thirds.  However, any stock would do, including a vegetable stock if you want to make it vegetarian.

I always boil roast chicken carcasses now and then freeze the stock in about 150ml amounts.  It's so easy, makes the very best of the chicken and the resulting stock is lovely, even without anything else.  You can add to the flavour by boiling the carcass in onion, carrot, etc, plus herbs but I tend to just do it plain.  If you let it cool and then chill it, you can scrape any residual fat off the top.