This is a hearty, homemade Italian-style tomato and vegetarian meatball soup, with lentils and fresh basil. It is perfect served with a a touch of cheese and a chunk of seeded bread.
Health Benefits – high in proteins, great for lunches whilst working at home
Prep: 10 Minutes | Cooking time: 30 Minutes | Servings: 4
Ingredients
1 tbsp olive oil
1 large onion, finely chopped
1 red pepper, deseeded and diced
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 x 400g can chopped tomatoes
800ml vegetable stock, made with 1 low-salt vegetable stock cube
150g dried red lentils
2 tbsp tomato purée
300g Quorn Swedish-style meatballs
20g fresh basil
Black pepper, to taste
To Serve
4 chunks seeded bread
1 tbsp Italian-style hard cheese, grated (optional)
Method
- Preheat the oven to 200°C/gas mark 6.
- In a large saucepan, heat the oil and fry the onion gently for 5 minutes, until softened. Add the pepper and fry for a further 3 minutes. Add the garlic and fry for 1 minute.
- Pour in the chopped tomatoes and stock, followed by the lentils and tomato purée. Bring to the boil, cover with a lid and simmer gently for 25 minutes, until the lentils are tender.
- Place the Quorn meatballs on a lightly oiled baking tray. Bake in the oven for 20 minutes or until browned and heated through.
- Roughly chop ¾ of the basil. When the soup is ready, remove from the heat, season with black pepper and process with a hand blender for a few seconds to roughly blend the soup, but retain some texture. Stir through the Quorn meatballs and chopped basil.
- Serve the soup in warm bowls with the remaining whole basil leaves, a chunk of seeded bread and an optional sprinkling of Italian-style hard cheese.
| Per portion | |
| Calories | 529 kcal |
| Fat | 12 g |
| Saturates | 3.2 g |
| Protein | 30 g |
| Carbs | 67 g |
| Sodium | 680 mg |
| Sugar | 16 g |
Created on 11 Apr, 2021.
Print