Madhouse recipe : Lentil, bacon & vegetable stew

This started off as a soup but the lentils kept soaking up all the liquid so I changed it into a stew. It was still delicious and great for using up the leftovers from the fridge and clearing out the veg drawer. The only bad news was that the kids polished it off so we didn't have any leftover for the next day after my busy day at work !

Lentil, bacon & vegetable stew

ingredients :

200g bacon lardons

2 onions

2 carrots

6 baby corn

3 mushrooms

leftover cooked meat (optional)

250g red lentils

1 stock cube (I used ham but chicken or beef would be fine too)

Cook the bacon in a large pot.

Once it has released some fat, add the onions and carrots and stir fry for 5 minutes.

Add the remaining vegetables - you can throw in whatever you have. In my case, it was a handful of baby corn that I'd set aside to go with my miso turkey then totally forgotten about, and a few mushrooms.

I also had one slice of Finnish roast pork and a small amount of miso turkey so I chopped them up and added them to the pot too.

Give it all a good stir and cook for 5 minutes.

Add the lentils and pour over enough water to cover everything. Bring to the boil and crumble in the stock cube then reduce the heat and simmer for 15-20 minutes until the lentils are cooked through but still slightly firm.

I added extra water twice but this made it go a bit mushy so either liquidise it with a stick blender then add extra water, or go for a thick stew rather than a soup.

Feel free to add seasoning of your choice but with the bacon and the stock cube, it tasted great as it was.

This is the ultimate comfort food on a cold winter's night when it's blowing a gale outside (like it is right now !)

This was ideal for using up odds and ends from the veg box in the fridge and also any leftover cooked meat, so I'm adding it to this month's #KitchenClearout linky.