Kale, Lentil and Lemon Soup

By Kellie Anderson, MSc kelliesfoodtoglow.com

This healthy, colour-packed soup recipe scoops up some key anti-inflammatory ingredients and simmers them up in a silky autumnal broth.

• 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 1 red onion peeled, finely chopped
• 2 celery sticks finely diced
• 2 medium carrots finely diced
• 3 garlic cloves peeled, finely minced/grated
• 1.5 tsp ground turmeric or fresh, grated
• .25 tsp black pepper freshly ground
• .25 tsp ground allspice optional
• .5 tsp chilli flakes
• 2 tsp rosemary leaves finely minced
• 150 grams red/orange lentils rinsed
• 1.7 litres light vegetable stock. I use Marigold Swiss Vegetable Bouillon
• 8 sun-dried tomatoes, sliced
• 80 grams kale sliced or chopped into bite-sized pieces (or chard)
• .5 unwaxed lemon juice and zest, more to taste
• 1 handful parsley chopped
• extra olive oil for serving

Method
1. Heat the olive oil in a medium/large saucepan over low-medium flame. Add the onion and celery. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes or until softened. Add the garlic, celery, carrots, turmeric, pepper, allspice, rosemary and chilli flakes. Cook, stirring, for 2 minutes or until smelling gorgeous and garlicky.
2. Add in the lentils and stock. Bring to the boil. Reduce the heat to low and partially cover. Simmer for 20 minutes, until lentils are tender.
3. Stir in the kale, sun-dried tomatoes and lemon zest to the soup. Bring back up to simmer for 5 minutes. Stir in the lemon juice and parsley and serve warm, rather than hot.

This brothy soup tastes best on the day, but freezes and reheats well. If you know you won’ t be eating it for a day or two, leave out the last-minute additions of kale, sun-dried tomatoes and lemon juice until you reheat the broth.

To make the broth heartier, add a handful of cooked grains. Adding uncooked into the broth will “muddy” it, but that’s just a cosmetic thing. Add more stock if using uncooked grains.