Spanish Lentil Soup

Ingredients

• 1 lb brown lentils
• 1 1/2 quarts beef stock or water
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 bunch fresh parsley, finely chopped
• salt & freshly ground black pepper
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1 head garlic, chopped
• 2 carrots, finely chopped
• 1 tomato, chopped
• 1/2 red pepper, chopped
• 2 teaspoons sweet paprika
• 1 tablespoon ground cumin
• 2 ounces rice
• 1/4 cup manzanilla sherry wine

Directions

1. 1

   Place the lentils in a large saucepan. Add the stock or water, bay leaves and parsley. Bring to the boil, reduce the heat, season with salt and freshly ground pepper and simmer, partly covered.

2. 2

   Meanwhile, heat the olive oil in a frying pan. Fry the onion gently until softened, around 5 minutes.

3. 3

   Add the garlic, carrot, tomato and red pepper. Fry gently for 5 minutes. Remove from direct heat, season with salt and freshly ground pepper, paprika and cumin.

4. 4

   Add the onion mixture and the rice to the simmering soup. Simmer the soup until the lentils are tender, around 45 minutes in all.

5. 5

   Mix in the sherry and serve.

6. 6

   For Vegetarian use only the water.