Add dried lentils and mix into the vegetables, let cook a few minutes
Stir in whole or diced tomatoes and break up with wooden spoon
Stir in stock powder
Add water and mix well
Add salt and coarse black pepper to taste (I use about 1/2 flat tbs salt/1/4 tsp coarse black pepper) can always add more if needed later, but cannot take it out!
Turn up heat and bring to boil
Reduce heat to medium simmer and cover pan with lid (so steam does not escape)
Cook for about 45 minutes to one hour until vegetables are tender and lentils are soft (soup will still be thin at this point)
Add chunks of potato and the small sized pasta (tiny shells or ditalini are good, or about 100g of spaghetti broken into small pieces).
Stir well and keep lid off pot at this point
Watch soup carefully, stir every 5-10 minutes for next 30 minutes or so until potatoes and small pasta are tender, adjust heat up or down as needed
The soup will thicken at this point and you have to constantly scrape the bottom of the pot with wooden spoon, checking to make sure soup does catch and burn on bottom (I usually simmer this way for about only 10 mins then transfer the whole lot into a large microwave safe casserole dish and finish off in the microwave for about 15 minutes..... to be on the safe side cos I have been caught with it burning at the bottom.
If too thick add a very small amount of water and reduce heat and continue as above, until potatoes and pasta are tender
Soup should be about the consistency of pea and ham soup (thickish but liquid)
Pour soup into bowls, sprinkle each with a tsp of freshly grated parmesan and If desired swirl a few drops of olive oil into each bowl of soup.
VARIATION:
You can add one or two small bacon bones to this recipe when you add the water, but if you do, do not add any salt as the bones will be sufficient to season the soup. Add coarse black pepper to taste. Remove the bones from pot prior to serving soup.
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