Roast pumpkin and lentil soup

Yields6 Servings
Prep Time10 minsCook Time30 minsTotal Time40 mins
Provides your gut and brain with lots of prebiotic fibres, 2 veggie serves, ½ a legumes serve and some healthy fats This soup is full of warming goodness and I find it hard to wait for it to cook as Iit smells so good and I want to eat it immediately!
 500 g pumpkin, peeled, de-seeded and chopped into 3cm chunks
 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
 freshly ground pepper
 1 onion, finely diced
 1 leek, thinly sliced
 2 celery stalks, finely diced
 2 carrots, finely diced
 2 cloves garlic, crushed
 2 tsp harissa
 5 cups vegetable stock
 ¾ cup red lentil
 2 tsp fresh parsley, chopped
 2 tbsp fresh coriander, chopped
1

Preheat the oven to 180° C

2

Place the pumpkin on a tray and drizzle with 1 tbspn of olive oil and season with salt and pepper and roast for 20-30mins.

3

Heat a medium sized saucepan over a medium heat and add a splash of olive oil (approx. 1 tablespoon) and add the onion, leek, celery and carrots and cook for five minutes stirring often until the veg start to soften.

4

Add the garlic and harissa and cook for 2-3 minutes until fragrant. Add enough stock to cover the veg and bring to the boil.

5

Put the lentils in a sieve and rinse under cold water until the water runs clear then add to the soup. Reduce the heat and simmer for 15-20 minutes, until the lentils are tender.

6

Depending if you like your soup chunky or smooth either blend the whole lot or I love blending half of it and then mixing it through the chunky half.

Note: Harissa is a spicy chilli paste. If you can't find it in your supermarket use 1 heaped teaspoon of chilli paste and an extra clove of garlic instead.

GF, DF and LF.