Tomato & Lentil Soup (Surplus Food Style)
Soups, Starters
Feeds 4-6
Cook Time: 1.5 Hours
Difficulty: Easy
I’m a life long soup fan. I’m a life long tomato soup fan! There, I said it! As a kid I was filled with tomato soup (out of the tin) whenever I was poorly or off school. Nothing gives me a greater comfort than the smell of tomato soup and the sight of heavily buttered bread.
I made this soup as part of a community project working with some amazing young people. As per usual with my community work it had to be made from surplus ingredients. That means there isn’t necessarily the usual suspects you might want for a traditional soup. In previous sessions, we’ve gone as far outside the box as Avocado and Cottage Cheese Soup in the past…..it was surprisingly delicious!
The point of these soup sessions is to use up the surplus food a local food charity collects. The soup ends up in the freezer which can then be used for the local community. It’s the most wonderful of schemes run by the wonderful Shrewsbury Food Hub - find them, support them if you can.
On this particular day, we took the soup to work with another local charity. The Shrewsbury Town Football Club Foundation Youth Hub. They work with referred young people who are struggling to find their place in the world. They offer them employability skills, advice and activities to help them to get on their feet. We took these young people under our wing and prepped and served a lunch of soup and salads for over 50 people - entirely using surplus food.
I was sceptical about the soup being popular (I thought soup might be a little ‘uncool’ for these 18-25 year olds - how wrong was I?) but it went down an absolute storm. So much so that 3 different people told me it was the very best soup they had ever tried!!! How cool is that feedback?!
I promised everyone I would put the recipe up on here, so here it is! In all of its surplus glory, I have listed it exactly how I made it in the hope you all may be able to recreate it in its surplus glory. However the message with surplus is to use what’s around you, rather than what you have to buy so think about some substitutions!
Spring onions might not be the usual choice and to be honest any onion will do. We used frozen carrots but if you haven’t got any, either use fresh or chop some fresh and freeze them overnight before cooking. Equally using 4-5 fresh garlic cloves instead of garlic granules shouldn’t hurt! You should get a more delicious soup out of the fresh produce but maybe that isn’t what the charm of this soup is?!
INGREDIENTS:
2-3 Tbsp Vegetable Oil
18 Spring Onions, Thinly Sliced (3 bunches)
300g Frozen Baby Carrots
Pinch of Salt
1/2 Tsp Black Pepper
1 Tbsp Garlic Granules
750g Fresh Tomatoes, Quartered
Water
1 Dsp Veg Bouillon Powder (Marigold Brand) or 3 Veg Stock Cubes
3 Tbsp Split Red Lentils
1 Dsp Sugar
1 Dsp Red Wine Vinegar
METHOD:
Heat the oil in a large saucepan before adding the sliced spring onions and baby carrots (still frozen) and a pinch of salt. Add a splash of water to cover the bottom of the pan, place the lid on and cook for 5-10 minutes while you chop the tomatoes.
Once you’ve chopped the tomatoes, add these to the pan, add another small pinch of salt, the black pepper and the garlic granules along with enough water to fill approximately half way up the vegetables. Add the vegetable stock.
Return the lid, increase the heat slightly and bring to a simmer. Bring to a simmer and cook for around 30-40 minutes, stirring regularly. The tomatoes should breakdown well and release plenty of their liquid. Cook them until the liquid now just about covers the vegetables.
Add the red lentils to the simmering soup and cook for another 15-20 minutes until the lentils are completely soft and fully cooked.
Turn off the heat, add the sugar and the red wine vinegar and blend the soup really well until completely smooth.
Return the soup to the pan, taste and adjust the seasoning with sugar, salt and red wine vinegar.
Like most sauces, I find soup is even better the following day so if you aren’t going to eat it straight away, chill it down in tubs and store in the fridge.
If you’re going to freeze it, pop it in small tubs if you can - 1 or 2 portions. That way you can defrost what you need as and when.
Serve with heavily buttered bread!
