We have been hit by a cold spell here in Naples and I was craving something warm and nourishing. I’ve been trying to clean out fridge and pantry this week, which is why we’ve put a hold on our around the world recipes for this week, so I wanted to use what we already have at home. We have many citrus trees around our house and I am always looking for creative ways to use the citrus fruit abundance we have in this period.

This soup is simple to make with ingredients you probably have in your pantry, it requires around 30-35 minutes cooking time for the lentils but besides that is very easy to make. The lemon adds a special extra touch to make this soup a little different than typical lentil soup.

Ingredients

50 g or 3-4 tablespoons of Olive Oil

1 large carrot

1/2 of a medium sized onion

2 cloves of minced garlic

1 cup of brown lentils

1/3 cup of brown rice

1 lemon

32oz/900 grams of vegetable broth

Salt to taste

Freshly ground black pepper to taste

2 bay leaves

1 Teaspoon of dry oregano

Fresh parsley

Start by heating olive oil over medium heat in a large soup pan. Add chopped onions and cook for 3 minutes, stirring frequently. Add carrots, cook for another 3-4 minutes, stirring frequently. Add garlic and cook until fragrant (around one minute). Add lentils and rice, stir to mix with vegetables, add vegetable broth. Bring to a boil and then reduce to a simmer. Add bay leaves, oregano and salt and pepper to taste.

Cook covered for 25-35 minutes, checking to see if the lentils and rice are cooked. Halfway through cooking, add lemon juice of half of the lemon and taste. Add more lemon if you would like more of a lemon flavor (we liked it with juice of the whole lemon). At the end of cooking, chop around 1 tablespoon of fresh parsley, add it the soup and stir to mix. Serve hot with a drizzle of fresh olive oil.

It is also great topped with bread crumbs! We made ours from day old bread drizzled with olive oil, some salt and garlic and cooked in the air fryer at 180 C for 7 minutes.