Home Recipe ContentLeek and Lentil Soup - Emily Line

Leek and Lentil Soup - Emily Line

Published : May 20, 2019

Serves 4

Recipe provided by Emily Line

This recipe was discovered by Mum in one of the Women’s Weekly Cookbooks - that fabulous staple series of books which I’m sure can be found in many Australian homes, including mine. Mum tells me she first tried it for a dinner party, and it was so easy and popular that it became a classic weeknight staple, most often made without the cream to make it suitable for the dairy intolerant members of our family.

It’s worth noting that this soup freezes quite well and makes a great standby dinner with chewy, crusty bread and salad.

Ingredients:

30g butter or oil

3 leeks washed well and sliced

2 sticks celery chopped

2 rashers bacon chopped

1 cup red lentils

1 ¼ litres water

2 chicken stock cubes (appalling in today’s ‘only home-made will do’ society, I know, but we are talking about nostalgia foods!)

½ cup cream

Salt, pepper and chopped parsley to serve

Method:

Melt butter in a medium saucepan, then add leeks, celery and bacon. Cook, covered, over low heat for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Rinse lentils in a strainer under running water and add these to the pan, along with the water and crumbled stock cubes. Bring to the boil, reduce heat and simmer, covered, for about 30 minutes.

Puree the soup with a hand-held blender (or in batches in the food processor), add cream (or a little extra stock or water) and reheat gently. Stir in salt and pepper to taste and serve sprinkled with chopped parsley.