On the plane ride home, I started making plans for recreating some of the faboulous meals I’d had on my vacation – Ottolenghi’s basmati and wild rice salad, the appeltaart from the Old Church café in Amsterdam and the Moutabal I ate atop the Institut du Monde Arabe in Paris; I was going to make them all… as soon as we landed.

And then I got home and got sick; a lingering cold and melancholy, and then the thick fog came, eerie and haunting, covering the city for days… like a setting for some mystical novel.

Feeling poorly and cold and forlorn in ‘perpetual fog city’ put a damper on my desire to recreate cheery meals – instead, I wanted soup… lots of warm, thick, soothing and filling soups.

A hearty bowl of soup seemed more suitable for the mood, and this slow cooker lentil soup is just the ideal soup for the occasion; it’s brothy and filling with chunks of vegetables, and so, so easy to make.

It’s probably the very first soup I think of when the temperature drops, and the trees start turning colour and shedding.
And because it’s easy, adaptable and oh so deliciously comforting, I usually make it a few times throughout the colder months.

Sometimes I sauté the vegetables first before they go in the slow cooker, by all means do that if you have time – like I said, this recipe is very versatile – you can also add your favourites… like cubed potatoes or sweet potatoes, other root vegetables, rice, quinoa, chopped apples… etc.

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Slow Cooker Lentil Soup

INGREDIENTS

• 2 cups of dried green lentils, washed and drained
• 2 leeks, trimmed and sliced
• 3 carrots, sliced
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 1 clove of garlic, minced
• 1/4 cup tomato paste
• 2 tablespoon olive oil
• 6 – 7 cups of vegetable broth
• 1 serrano pepper (or less/more), finely chopped
• 1 tablespoon minced ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon dried basil
• 1/2 teaspoon dried parsley
• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1/2 teaspoon dried rosemary
• 1 teaspoon salt, or (less/more) to taste
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, or (less/more) to taste
• Handful chopped cilantro

DIRECTIONS

1. Put lentils in the bowl of your slow cooker
2. Add leeks, carrots, onions, garlic and tomato paste
3. Add olive oil and vegetable broth, and stir
4. Add serrano pepper and minced garlic
5. Add oregano, basil, parsley, thyme, and rosemary
6. Cover and cook at medium-low for 4 hours, stir soup two hours into cooking
7. Add the salt and black pepper after 4 hours, and cook for another 1 – 2 hours
8. Taste and adjust the seasoning, and check the lentils, they should be tender
9. Ladle soup into bowls, sprinkle with chopped cilantro and serve hot
10. Enjoy!

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