Take advantage of the shiny green and abundant silverbeet around at the moment by putting half a bunch in some Spinach and lentil soup. A good warming and balancing soup for winter, it is substantial without being heavy or creamy. I love serving it with heaps of lemon and salt!
This soup is also a delicious way to get the most nutritional benefit from the silverbeet. Although it's usually paired with cheeses such as fetta, this combination can hamper the absorption of the iron in the silverbeet, as well as the calcium in the cheese. So, although there is always room in my life for spinach and fetta, it's good to try and have some non dairy silverbeet meals as well.
I usually pre-soak my lentils overnight to make them more digestible, but it's really only necessary to soak beans larger than adzuki beans.
Spinach and lentil soup
1. Chop up one onion, four garlic cloves, three celery stalks and one medium potato.
2. Saute in olive oil with half a teaspoon of cumin for ten minutes, or until the onion is soft and transparent.
3. Add 3/4 cup uncooked lentils (pre-soaked or straight from the packet) and saute again briefly before adding one and a half litres of stock. Bring to the boil , reduce heat to simmer and cover. Simmer for 35-40 mins.
Skim off any foam that forms on top of the soup from the lentils.
4. While the soup is simmering, remove the stems from half a big bunch of silverbeet, and slice the leaves into long thin pieces.
5. Add the silverbeet the soup in the last ten minutes of cooking. Watch it turn bright green!
6. Once it's cooked add plenty of sea salt, pepper and lemon juice to taste.
Enjoy! I enjoyed so much I forgot to take a photo of the final product in my bowl :)
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