this lentil soup is an old favourite – comfort food from the days when i was a poor student, a vegetarian (over 10 years ago) and the days when i was still learning to love lentils and beans.

it is a recipe from rose elliott’s bean book, a cookery book which i remember my mum using when i was a child and which i still turn to.

this lentil soup is very traditional and comforting with the gentle flavours of onion, carrot and red lentils. it is lifted, however, by a squeeze of lemon juice and, if you’re feeling a bit more decadent than i was on an austere january day, it is lovely with yoghurt swirled through or, as rose elliott suggests, curried croutons.

if you want to lift the flavours further, stir a teaspoon of thai curry paste in with the onions and add some chopped coriander when you serve it.

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the miso soup which i have posted about recently fulfils a very specific need. it’s light, delicious and obviously healthy.

this lentil and savoy cabbage soup is similar except it screams healthiness and worthiness given its star ingredients are cabbage and lentils. this isn’t always a good thing – to make a huge generalisation, boys often need persuading of the virtues of this kind of food!

however, there are definitely days when i need to eat something that is going to make me feel a little bit saintly. whether it’s because i’ve been overindulging, need to be frugal or i just feel that my body needs a dose of healthiness.

the recipe is deceptively simple but tastes fabulous and ticks the saintly box. unless of course you grate over mounds of parmesan and eat it with fresh bread slathered in delicious french bridel butter. but even then it manages to retain an aura of austerity. deluded? moi? surely not…

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