Carrot, Split Pea and Parsley Soup

Serves 4, generously

Download recipe

Ingredients

100g red split lentils, rinsed

100g yellow split peas

extra virgin olive oil, enough to cover the bottom of the pan

1 onion, finely chopped

small bunch flat leaf parsley, finely chopped, keep chopped stalks aside to cook with onions

2 or 3 cloves garlic, finely chopped or crushed

3 sticks celery, finely chopped

1 tablespoon dried mixed herbs

1kg carrots, grated, diced or roughly chopped

pinch of sea salt

few grinds of black pepper

Method

Put the split peas into a sieve and give them a thorough rinse in cold water. Now, put them into a small pan, cover the split peas with water and a pinch of salt and bring to a simmer. Simmer until tender, this can take 30/40mins.

While the split peas are cooking put the olive oil in a heavy-bottomed pan on a gentle heat and add the onions, parsley stalks, garlic and celery followed by the herbs, salt and pepper. Stir and let cook until soft but not browned. This takes about 10 minutes. If the onions start to stick, turn down the heat and add a splash of water.

Put the carrots and lentils into the pan and mix everything together. Add cold water to just cover the vegetables. Bring to a simmer and cook until the lentils and carrots are soft, this will take about 20 minutes. Add extra splashes of water as needed, the lentils can soak it up very quickly. Stir occasionally.

Take the pan off the heat, blitz with a hand blender until smooth.

When the split peas are cooked (they should have a ‘bite’ to them but shouldn’t be chalky) drain, rinse again and stir through the blended soup with the chopped parsley.

Taste the soup and adjust seasoning if necessary.