I love soup, but my best friend Kristina is a souper fan of it! Hee Hee. I made a funny, get it souper fan! Like I played on words. Oh okay… Back to the soup.

So I am on this soup kick, since it’s getting colder outside.  Yesterday, I made a purple sweet potato soup.  I will post that recipe later on today.  It was creamy, buttery, spicy and delicious and it’s vegan!  I wanted something, broth based today. I picked up my son’s cold and broth based soups are excellent for cleansing the body.

I added ginger in this recipe and it works very well. I topped the soup with a pistou. Pistou is the French version of Italian pesto, except it doesn’t have pine nuts in it. It made an excellent garnish for the carrot soup, it gave it some freshness. I also used lemon zest on top of the pistou, to break up the fat a little, from the olive oil. I hope you will enjoy this recipe, as much as I did today.

Remember to Set the Table with love.

Ingredients:

3 small to medium, tri color carrots ( purple, orange, white or yellow) , chopped, same size

1/2 cup onions, chopped

2 small garlic cloves, chopped

1 small thump size ginger, peeled and finely chopped

1 tbsp garlic and herb seasonings, No salt

1/2 cup lentils

4 cups vegetable stock

pinch of turmeric

sea salt and black pepper to taste

Pistou

2 cloves garlic, peeled

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

1 cup loosely packed fresh basil leaves, no stems.

Garnish with lemon zest ( optional )

Directions:

Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium heat, cook onions. Stirring, 5 minutes, until soften. Add in carrots and garlic. Cook for 2 -3 minutes.  Add in a pinch of sea salt, black pepper and garlic seasonings. Add in lentils and stir everything together. Cook for 3 minutes. Constantly stirring.  Add in vegetable broth. Turn up the heat to medium high and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and cover saucepan, allow to cook for 20- 30, minutes, until lentils are tender. Once cooked, remove from heat. Serve in bowls and top with pistou and lemon zest.

Prepare the Pistou. Blend or process garlic, olive oil and basil in small processor, until smooth. Season to taste with sea salt. Transfer into a small bowl. Cover tightly with plastic wrap. Serve over top the soup or spread on a baguette.