CARROT AND LENTIL SOUP

With the return of the yukky weather the craving for hot soup has also returned and as today is a bread baking day I decided to make a summer soup which we all love.




1 lb carrots peeled and thinly sliced

half a pound of red lentils

I lb onions peeled and finely sliced

3pints of vegetable stock

salt and pepper

bouquet garni made of thyme marjoram and tarragon.

Half a pint of cream

2 cloves of garlic crushed

Peel and chop the carrots

2 oz butter

1 tblsp plain flour

2 teaspoons mild curry powder if liked mixed with a little water.



Heat the butter in a large heavy bottomed saucepan ,dust the onion rings in the flour and cook very slowly in the butter until soft and golden,this takes about ten minutes.

Add the sliced carrots garlic , bouquet garni and stock then season with salt and pepper. Bring to the boil then add the lentils and simmer for thirty minutes until the carrots are soft and the lentils have begun to dissolve.

Blitz the soup in a liquidizer of pass through a sieve. Mix the curry in to the soup and simmer gently for a further thirty minutes then add the cream. Serve hot.

I find the soup quite flavoursome enough without the curry but if you like a little heat it certainly gives the dish a real lift.

At home I would serve this soup with crust home made bread but croutons are also quite acceptable and garlic bread sticks also make a change.



An old primary school friend of my sons visited us this afternoon,he is one of the few people who are taller than my son which singles him out from the crowd. We are all very fond of this young man and it makes me very happy that whenever he come home to see his parents he always looks us up too. He spent a great deal of time at our home as a child, he was a dear little boy and has grown into a fine young man who we are proud to know.



Today I began to make the winters supply of Apple and Thyme Jelly and to my shame I was obliged to purchase the apples my own crop having been a dismal failure. No one hereabouts has any Bramleys.H owgates or any other cooking apple and the price in the shops reflects the apparent nation wide shortage.

This years chutney will most likely be made of damsons instead of apples as by the time I have made the Apple and Blackberry , Apple and Elderberry and Apple and Rose Hip the expense will be enough.



Damsons are so plentiful that excepting for some serious mishap Damson Wine made by my neighbour and Damson Gin made by myself should be abundant. Much of our home made produce is given as gifts at Christmas and on other occasions and ,also to local charities which we supply with hampers to be auctioned at village fairs etc. it is a good way to raise money ,last year one lady alone purchased twenty pounds worth of tickets for one of our hampers.



Well done to all those competing at the London Olympics,we were especially delighted when Mo Farah won gold as he went to the same school as my son and is just a year younger. Apart from being a great athlete he is a great role model who,s love of sport kept him on the straight and narrow. We need more lads like him!