Lentil, bacon and roasted winter vegetable soup

Recipe courtesy of Miranda Gore Browne. Follow her on @mirandagorebrowne on Instagram.

Ingredients

• 50g butter
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 1 red onion
• 2 leeks
• 150g red lentils
• 2 tbsp of tomato puree
• 1 tin of tomatoes or passata
• 2 litres of stock
• 150g smoked bacon
• 2 tbsp of rapeseed oil
• 1 bay leaf
• 180g carrots
• ½ tsp of chilli flakes or cayenne pepper
• 2 potatoes peeled and chopped
• Half a butternut squash
• Black pepper
• 3-4 tbsp of thick plain yogurt
• A handful of toasted walnuts

Method

1. Melt the butter in a large saucepan.
2. Chop the bacon into small pieces and cook in the pan. Lift out and put to one side to add later.
3. Chop the butternut squash, potato and carrot into chunks, pop into a roasting tin, slosh some rapeseed oil on top, sprinkle with a little cayenne pepper or chilli flakes.
4. Put the garlic, onion and leeks into the pan you used to cook the bacon in, cook over a medium heat until softened and glossy.
5. Add the lentils and tomato puree and stir, cooking for about 3-4 minutes.
6. Add the tinned tomatoes, then pour over the stock and bring to the boil before simmering for about half an hour.
7. Add all the roasted vegetables and bacon to the soup base.
8. Cook for a further 10-15 minutes. Season with black pepper.
9. Serve in chunky bowls or mugs with a dollop of thick plain yogurt and some toasted nuts.