Quick Soup

Veg heading towards its sell by date? Or odds and ends of veg hanging around that need using up?
Over 25% of food produced goes to waste but we want to help reduce that and a soup is a wonderful way to use up any veg that is about to go off or any odds and ends. I made this soup from some broccoli we had in the fridge that was going to go off if we didn't use it and I also chucked in a carrot, leek and the end of a packet of kale. To add some protein and make it thicker I added a packet of Merchant Gourmet ready cooked green lentils but any beans or lentils would work really well. You can either freeze some for a later date or have for the following few days for lunch. I have put a basic recipe for you below to help:

Ingredients

(serves approx. 5-6)

• 1 onion

• 1-2 garlic cloves

• Leftover veg (1 carrot, 1 leek, big bag of broccoli, some kale)

• 1.5 litres of chicken or vegetable stock (less if you have less veg)

• 1 packet of cooked green lentils (red lentils, tinned butterbeans, cannellini beans, Borlotti beans etc will work well too)

• Olive oil

• Salt and pepper
  

Method

1. Roughly chop the onion and garlic then lightly fry off in some olive oil in a large saucepan until soft (for around 3-5 mins).

2. Roughly chop the other veg and add in.

3. Add the stock and lentils/beans then simmer for 20 mins or until veg is soft.

4. Either use a hand blender or food processor to liquefy then add salt and pepper to taste.