Lentil soup with lemon and garlic

Let's face it - after a really beautiful and warm autumn in Brussels, the winter is just around the corner. It is getting colder and darker every day. But so far it hasn't been raining too much and that itself is a reason to be happy ;) I have to admit that this is the time of the year when I don't always feel like preparing some elaborate and time-consuming dishes on weekdays. Often after coming home from work I prefer to lie on the sofa with a good book or go for an evening run, rather than spend a lot of time in the kitchen (which on the other hand I very much enjoy at the weekends). But I still like to eat, and I like to eat nice. Soups are a fantastic solution here, as I usually make enough to last for three days. Then we have them with dark break or rolls with some nice vegan spread on top. A fast, but super delicious and super healthy dinner.

Today I made one of my favourite soups: lentil soup with lemon and garlic from The Complete Book of Vegan Cooking by Tony and Yvonne Bishop-Weston:

(serves 4; I post the original recipe here - I doubled the quantities)

3 tbsp olive oil

1 onion, chopped

2 celery sticks, chopped
1-2 carrots, sliced

4 garlic cloves, chopped

1 potato, peeled and diced

250g red lentils, well rinsed

1 litre vegetable stock

2 bay leaves

1-2 lemons, halved

1/2 tsp ground cumin, or to taste

cayenne pepper or Tabasco sauce, to taste

ground black pepper

lemon slices and chopped fresh flat leave parsley (I used regular parsley), to garnish

Heat the olive oil in a large pan, add the onions and cook for 5 minutes. Add the celery, carrots, half the garlic and the potato. Cook a few mintues until they begin to soften. Add the lentils and the vegetable stock and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat and simmer under cover for about 30 minutes. Add the bay leaves, remaining garlic, half the lemons and cook until the lentils and vegetables are tender (10-15 minutes). Remove the bay leaves (I also removed the lemon halves, blending them later didn't really appeal to me...). Squeeze the juice from the remaining lemons into the soup and stir. Blend the soup, season with the cumin, cayenne pepper or Tabasco. Heat up the soup again, pour into bowls and serve garnished with chopped parsley and lemon slices.

And yes, it tastes as good as it looks ;)

Curried potato-spinach soup

Yet another great recipe from the Candlé Cafe Cookbook. Perfect for a chilly autumn evening.

I modified the quantities a bit - I used a whole onion instead of a half, 4 garlic cloves instead of 2, I added one sweet potato and more spinach.

Curried potato-spinach soup

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

1 onion, chopped

1 tbsp. curry powder

1 tsp. fennel seeds (I ground them in a coffee mill)

1 tsp. ground coriander (as above, I ground whole coriander seeds)

1 tsp. turmeric

1 tsp. ground cumin

1/4 tsp. cayenne 

4 garlic cloves, minced

1 celery stalk, chopped

4 medium potatoes (in the recipe Yukon Gold), peeled and chopped

1 large sweet potato, peeled and chopped

1 cup chopped cauliflower florets

3 quarts (2.8L) vegetable broth

2 large handfuls of spinach, rinsed and coarsely chopped

1-2 tbsp. sea salt to taste

chopped cilantro for garnish

In a soup pot heat up the olive oil over medium heat, add the onion and all the spices. Fry until the onion becomes translucent. Add the garlic and celery and sauté for a few minutes, until the garlic becomes fragrant, but be careful not to burn it. Add the potatoes and cauliflower, mix them well with the spices. Add the broth, bring to boil and simmer until the vegetables are tender (about 40 min). Add the spinach, remove from the heat and set aside to cool. Blend the soup, then reheat, add salt to taste, garnish with cilantro and serve!

Roasted Roots

The original recipe for this delicious side dish comes from The Candle Café Cookbook, one of my all-time favourite cooking books. The authors are the owners of Candle 79 vegan restaurant in New York. I used a bit more vegetables and garlic, I also made more marinade. Here is the slightly adjusted recipe:

Roasted roots (serves 4 as a side dish)

2 medium carrots, cut into 2 cm pieces

3 parsnips or root parsleys, peeled and cut into small chunks

2 beetroots, peeled and cut into small chunks

2 yams or sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into small chunks

2 garlic cloves, peeled and sliced

3 tbsp. olive oil
3 tbsp. tamari or shoyu soy sauce
pinch of dried basil, oregano, thyme
freshly ground pepper
1/2 tsp. salt

Preheat the oven to 180°C. Place the vegetables on a shallow baking sheet. In a small bowl combine the olive oil, soy sauce, herbs, pepper and salt, mix well. Pour over the vegetables and mix well. I do it with my hand, in fact sometimes I put all the marinade ingredients directly on the vegetables and mix. It saves time and a bit of washing up ;) Bake until tender, it usually takes about an hour.

Grapefruit and pear juice with a kick

This is my attempt to recreate a juice from the Saf Restaurant and Bar at Whole Foods Market Kensington. Both shopping for some vegan ingredients hard to get in Belgium and a lunch at the restaurant are a must for me every time I am in London. I wish they opened one in Brussels, but so far my requests have been ignored... ;)

The rather unexpected ingredients in this juice are flaxseed oil and cayenne pepper. They do give it quite a kick ;) Flaxseed oil (otherwise known as linseed oil) contains Omega 3 and Omega 6 fatty acids, both needed for our health. Still, the juice will also taste great and be very refreshing if you don't like flaxseed oil, which has quite a special taste, or if you don't like the idea of a spicy juice altogether. Either way, if you like grapefruits and feel like a bit of help to wake up in the morning, go for it :)

Ingredients for 1.5L of juice:

6 grapefruits, peeled
6 pears (I use conference)
1lemon, peeled
a piece of ginger
1 tsp. flaxseed oil
a pinch of cayenne pepper (a very small pinch ;)

Juice all the fruit, then add the oil and cayenne pepper, mix well, pour into glasses and enjoy!