RECIPE: Carrot and lentil soup

This is the final dish that I made with the stock from the carcass of last weekend's chicken. Home made soups really do thrive on good stock, and I generally use chicken or vegetable. Both are easy and almost-free to make, but good bought stocks make great soups too - just go easy on the seasoning as they will already be quite salty.

To serve two: 

1 large carrot

1 medium onion

25g butter

30g split red lentils

grated zest of ½ lime, reserving a few bits for garnish

3 cardamom pods, crushed

600 ml stock 

seasoning

Chop the onion and carrot as finely as you can - I do this by cutting them into large chunks and blitzing them in the food processor. 

Heat the butter in a large saucepan and very gently fry the chopped veg until tender. Add the cardamoms and lime zest and stir for a minute or two to release the fragrance than add the lentils and stock, bring to the boil and simmer until the lentils are falling apart tender. Don't add salt yet - it can make the lentils tough if you add it before they are done. The length of time depends on how fresh your lentils are - from a brand new pack it will be about 15 minutes, but if you've dug them out of the back of the cupboard and turned a blind eye to the use-by date it could be more like 45 minutes. Keep checking the amount of liquid - if you have to cook them for a long time it will reduce and you may need to add some boiling water. 

Once the lentils are done, the soup is ready to serve - fish out the cardamom pods then taste and add the seasoning. If you prefer a smooth soup, whizz the pan contents with a hand blender. 

Garnish with the remaining lime zest and serve. 

You can ring the changes by swapping the lime zest for any other citrus fruit and the cardamom pods for ½ teaspoon of ground coriander or cumin.