Lentil and Vegetable Soup

There is nothing so hearty as a rustic soup for a cold night, when you may or may not be in recovery from the previous night's festivities, and in need of sustenance to revive your broken body. The kind of night when you're happy to sit at home and watch the Vicar of Dibley on telly, and pretend to do some work, then go to bed early.

This is that soup.

Ingredients

• 400g can of lentils
• large carrot
• 2 sticks of celery
• onion
• garlic
• parsley
• thyme
• splash of olive oil
• 1 litre vegetable stock
• lemon juice
• bread and butter to serve

Cut all your vegies down into smallish bits. Rinse your lentils thoroughly - seriously, the more you rinse them the less you'll fart tomorrow - and drain them. Meanwhile, if you are using powdered stock as I have, prepare this now in a jug, using boiling water. Heat a generous splash of olive oil in a big pot, and add the onion, garlic, carrot and celery. Stir and soften for about 5 minutes. Add the lentils and stir for another minute or two.

Add the stock to your pot, and bring to the boil. Finely chop the parsley and thyme and add these, and lots of cracked pepper. Simmer for about 15 minutes and add a squeeze of lemon juice. Serve with buttered crusty bread and eat it on the new couch, in front of the telly, next to the heater.