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River Cottage Veg Inspired – Vegetable Soup Recipe – Lentil Beans, Tomatoes and Spinach

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Simple lentils and tomatoes with a fresh twist from spinach and parsley make for a surprisingly satisfying meal.  Add bit of hard goat cheese at the end to further blow your mind.

This soup changed my life.  That might be a little dramatic, but it has been one of my absolute favorites when:

• I am starving
• I feel lazy
• I want to impress girls
• I am trying to be a vegetarian
• A friend asks for a quick and easy healthy meal recipe
• I have a busy week (because it freezes up amazing)

Recipe Inspiration – River Cottage Veg, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall

The recipe is adapted from the River Cottage Veg cookbook by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall.  I can’t say enough good things about this book.  Hugh is such an interesting vegetable recipe author because actually became famous for a cookbook full of meat recipes called the The River Cottage Meat Book.

In an earlier life, I would have considered myself a meat-a-tarian, and then something happened.  I read a few health and food books, The Omnivore’s Dilemma, listened to Rich Roll’s Podcast, and decided to do a life experiment.  I set out on a non-meat diet for a month or so to see what would happen.

Would I die from a lack of protein or feel so hungry that I wanted to chew off my arm?  Maybe… The first day or two were a challenge until I settled into a few new habits.  Then came some amazing results.  I began feeling overly energetic, fit, and generally healthy!  (PS I am not that good at playing by the rules, so I might have had a random meal of chicken wings or steak in there, but even then, the results were REAL from going mostly veggie!)

The introduction to this book struck a chord with me because (like me) Hugh enjoys beautifully crafted meat dishes, but felt it was necessary to allow veggies to play a larger role in his diet.  His philosophy is not based around meat replacements, but rather satisfying and flavorful preparations of vegetables.

With Hugh’s recipes, you will not feel emptiness in your heart due to a lack of meat.  Actually, you may even start to dream of all of the amazing vegetables and lust for the next meal of green stuff.   I did…

Let’s cook!

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Vegetable Soup with Lentil Beans Recipe

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Ingredients

• 1 ½ – onions (chopped)
• 3 – carrots (halved longwise, sliced)
• 3 cloves – garlic (minced or pressed)
• 2 tablespoons – Herbes de Provence
• 4 – tomatoes (chopped into ½ inch pieces)
• 32 ounces – chicken or veggie stock
• ¾ cup – french lentil beans
• 1 bunch – flat leaf parsley (chopped)
• 2 handfuls – spinach
• Hard goat cheese to garnish

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1. Sauté on medium heat onions, carrots, garlic, and Herbes de Provence, salt and pepper in a large wok pan or medium sized stockpot.  Cook and 5-7 minutes until the onions are translucent and carrots begin to soften.  Put lentil beans into a fine mesh strainer and rinse thoroughly.

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2. Add tomatoes and sauté for another 3-5 minutes until the tomatoes begin to soften and integrate with the other ingredients.

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3. Add chicken stock and rinsed lentil beans.  Continue cooking at medium heat until soup begins to boil gently.  Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer for 35 minutes.  Stir gently occasionally.

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4. Take a taster spoonful of soup and test the lentils doneness.  Ideally they will be softening up, but if not continue simmering for another 5 -10 minutes.

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5. Add parsley and spinach stir in gently.  If the soup has boiled down, feel free to add a 1-2 cups of water to expand it.  Simmer for 3 minutes until parsley and spinach have wilted into the soup.  Add additional salt to taste.  Depending on your stock, you may need to add a significant amount.

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6. Ladle into bowls and add a bit of hard goat cheese to garnish.

Let’s Eat!