Melbourne Holistic Health Group

Published in Recipes on 01 July 2011 by Melbourne Holistic Health Group

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 large onion
• 2 celery sticks including the leafy tops
• 1 large carrot
• 1 large or 2 smaller potatoes
• ¼ cup red lentils
• 2 cloves of garlic, crushed
• 2 litres vegetable stock (or chicken or meat stock)
• 400g fresh diced tomatoes or 400g tinned tomatoes
• 2 tablespoon tomato paste
• ¼ cup small pasta pieces – shells, bow ties, broken pieces of tagliatelle etc
• 1 cup cabbage, finely shredded
• 2 zucchini
• 2 cups of cooked borlotti beans or 400g can rinsed borlotti beans
• Freshly ground black pepper and a little sea salt if necessary
• Grated parmesan and chopped flat leaf parsley to serve

You will need

• 1 large saucepan/soup pot

Instructions

1. Chop the onion, celery, carrot and potato. Heat olive oil in large saucepan. Add the chopped vegetables and fry gently for 5 minutes, stirring most of the time to avoid burning. The onion should be soft.
2. Add the red lentils and garlic and fry for a further minute
3. Add the stock, tomatoes, tomato paste and bring to the boil. Simmer with lid on for ½ an hour. The vegetables and lentils should be tender.
4. Add the borlotti beans, pasta, cabbage and zucchini. Simmer with lid off for 10-15 minutes.
5. Taste and season with freshly ground black pepper and a small amount of sea salt if needed.
6. Serve sprinkled with grated parmesan and parsley. If you have some basil pesto, a teaspoon stirred through each bowl of soup is great.
7. Can be made in larger quantities and keeps well in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.