Italian Lentil Soup (Lenticchie for New Year's Eve)

• 350 g dried lentils (brown, green or black)
• Water: about 1 litre boiling water, plus a little more hot water as needed
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 1 carrot, finely diced
• 4–5 cherry tomatoes, quartered
• 1 celery stalk, in large pieces (lifted out before serving)
• 1 garlic clove, crushed in its skin (lifted out before serving)
• 2 bay leaves (lifted out before serving)
• extra virgin olive oil, a drizzle to cook and another to serve (about 2 tbsp)
• a handful of fresh parsley leaves, chopped (added raw)
• salt, to taste
• freshly ground black pepper

Method

The cook speaks Italian; every step is written here in English. Tap a time to watch that step in the video. For subtitles, tap CC in the video, then Settings › Subtitles › Auto-translate › English.

1. Rinse the lentils well and check for small stones (soak them only if the packet says so). 1:20
2. Finely chop the onion and dice the carrot small. Cut the celery into 3–4 big pieces so you can fish it out later, quarter the tomatoes and crush the garlic in its skin. 1:46
3. Put a drizzle of oil in a pot (terracotta is ideal) with the onion, carrot, celery, garlic, bay leaves and tomatoes, and let them sizzle gently to release their flavour. 2:30
4. Meanwhile bring about 1 litre of water to the boil in another pot. 3:02
5. Add the drained lentils to the vegetables and stir for 30 seconds, then pour in boiling water to two fingers above the lentils. Cover and bring to the boil over medium heat. 3:13
6. Turn the heat to the lowest setting and cook for 30–40 minutes, depending on the lentils. Keep hot water to hand and add some whenever they have absorbed it (after about 20 minutes). 3:44
7. For the last 5 minutes add salt and plenty of black pepper, stir, cover and finish cooking. 4:29
8. Lift out the garlic, bay leaves and celery. Serve with chopped raw parsley, more pepper and a drizzle of olive oil. 5:31

Tip. Serves 5 is our estimate: 70 g dried lentils each, a usual Italian portion. Lentils are eaten on New Year's Eve for luck, often with cotechino sausage; this is the plain everyday version. Loosen leftovers with hot water.

The method is a summary in our words — the video shows every step.