Winter Blues ? Spicy Lentil Soup

I have the winter blues. I am ready for Spring. We had the big snow storm for over a month, then the weather was balmy – at 5 degrees celcius – almost spring? But now it is back to being a bit chilly (or that is what is looks like from the couch). However we have another month and a half of Winter. I am so ready for spring that I have even planned our garden and ordered all the seeds, which I will start mid February.

We have both been very sick lately and I have been searching for a nice hearty wintery dish – different from our usual stews and roasts. Something to build us up, so we don’t get sick yet again.

I experimented with this dish after something I saw in a Donna Hay recipe and we had also visited the turkish shop for inspiration. S even said it was one of the best dishes I made! So I am going to share it with you.

What I love about this soup is that pretty much anything can go into it and it will be good. We had some carrots and celery in the fridge that needed to be used, so I chucked them in plus a bonus for getting extra veggies in too.

Spicy Lentil Soup:

1 large brown onion

1/2 head garlic

3 sticks celery

2 carrots

1 cup red lentils

1/2 spicy chorizo

1 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1 tin chopped tomatoes

1 tin white beans

2 cups stock

Chop all of your veggies finely while heating a pot on medium heat with a drissle of olive oil. Add the veggies to the pot and cook until slightly soft. Then add the lentils, tomatoes and stock. I needed to add a bit more water (add a tomato tin full at a time.) Then cook until lentils are cooked – about 30 minutes, depending on your lentils. Add the white beans and cook further for 10 minutes.

Serve warm with parsley sprinkled on top.

Sorry about this photo – I was going to take another one in the morning, but we had eaten it all up. Must’ve been good.