Seaweed stock gives this a real umami richness...
Ingredients:
Seaweed Stock
5g toothed wrack
5g atlantic wakame
1 carrot chopped in half
1 onion halved
10 peppercorns
2 cloves garlic bashed
800ml water
Soup
15g butter
1 onion
1 garlic clove crushed
60g red /brown lentils washed
600ml seaweed stock
50g chickweed chopped (with a few leaves left whole to garnish)
10g Three cornered garlic chopped (reserve a little to garnish)
75ml Greek yoghurt
Salt and pepper
Method:
1. The night before make up your seaweed stock by placing all the ingredients into a pan and allowing to simmer gently for as long as you can (3-4 hours ideally) then strain (it should have reduced now to 600ml or thereabouts).
2. Melt the butter and cook the onion and garlic gently in a covered saucepan until soft but not coloured.
3. Add lentils and stir to coat well.
4. Then add the stock, cover, bring to the boil and simmer for 20 minutes until lentils are soft.
5. Add the main amounts of both chickweed and three cornered garlic and remove from the heat.
6. Puree the soup along with most of the yoghurt leaving a little for garnish at the end .