Lentil Soup

Ingredients

• 5 litres (10 cups) water
• 4 large pieces of shin on the bone
• 500g lentils (verte du puy or brown, rinsed)
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 large leek, chopped
• 2 carrots, chopped
• 1 large potato, chopped
• 4 celery stalks, chopped
• 2 bay leaves
• handful of herbs of choice (equal quantities of Italian parsley, thyme, rosemary, sage)
• 10 black peppercorns, crushed
• salt to taste
• 1 Tbs medium curry powder

Method

Place meat in water and bring to the boil.

Remove scum from the top of the water. Take meat out and strain stock water through muslin cloth. Replace stock water in large cooking pot and put the meat back in.

Add lentils, onion, leek, carrots, potato, celery, bay leaves, and pepper and salt to taste.  

Try to keep all your chopped vegetables the same size and shape, and remember the smaller the chop the more sweetness will be released from the vegetable.

Bring to the boil, skimming off any further scum that rises to the top of the pot.

Place curry powder in a cup and add hot stock to dissolve the powder, and then replace curried stock back into the soup. Check seasoning.

Leave to simmer for at least 4 to 5 hours, the longer the better.

Serve with a “boiling sausage” (found in the chiller section of your super market) heated up in the soup an hour before serving, some horseradish sauce, whole gherkins, and hot crusty bread.