Simple French Green Lentil Soup with Bacon
Bursting with the Provençal flavours of tomatoes, thyme and marjoram, this Simple French Green Lentil Soup with Bacon is delicious as a veggie version too.
Ingredients
- 1 medium onion
- 2-3 garlic cloves
- ½ cup (75g) bacon lardons
- 2 cups (1x400g tin) chopped tomatoes
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme
- 2 dried bay leaves
- 1½ cups (250g) dried French green lentils
- 6 cups (1500ml) water
- 1 teaspoon dried marjoram
- salt
- ground black pepper
Instructions
- Peel and finely chop the onion and garlic cloves.
- Fry the lardons over a low heat. If there is a decent amount of fat on the lardons, there will be no need to fry them in oil. The lardons will fry in their own melted bacon fat. Keep the heat low to avoid crispy bacon bits. Cook for about 2-3 minutes, until cooked through but not coloured brown. Take off the heat if the lardons start to brown. Remove the lardons from the saucepan and set aside, leaving the melted fat in the saucepan.
- Gently fry the chopped onions in the bacon fat. If there is insufficient fat, add enough oil to coat the onions thoroughly. Fry the onions for about 10 minutes until they have softened and are translucent.
- Add the chopped garlic, stirring into the onions, and fry over a gentle heat for a minute or two until you can smell the cooking garlic.
- Add the chopped tomatoes, dried thyme and bay leaves. Stir the ingredients together and gently simmer for about 10 minutes.
- Add the lentils. Cover the lentils with about ¾ of the water. Turn the heat up and bring the water to a boil. Then turn the heat down to maintain a gentle simmer for about 10 minutes.
- Add the dried marjoram. Continue cooking the lentils at a gentle simmer for 5 minutes. Top up with more water to the consistency you want.
- Add the cooked bacon lardons to the soup. Cook for a further 5 minutes or until the lentils are cooked through. Add salt and pepper to taste once the lentils have finished cooking.
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