Tomato & Lentil Soup

Who doesn’t love a hot bowl of soup on a cold day? This Tomato & Lentil Soup hits the spot! I am so lucky because my entire family adores soup, so serving soup for dinner in our house is always a welcome choice. And tomatoes are a favourite soup base too. The kind people at Hunts Tomatoes contacted me and asked if I wanted to try out this recipe and share some of the goodness about their tomatoes with you. Since I buy Hunts Tomatoes & Tomato Paste by the case, I agreed.

Did you know that Tomatoes are:

• packed with healthy goodness.
• are a source of Vitamin A, C, Fibre & Potassium
• are naturally fat free.

Let’s talk about the recipe I am sharing first. I make soups all the time….every week in fact…and what I loved about this soup, besides how yummy it tasted, was how quickly it came together. Since Hunts Tomatoes are the star ingredient…there is not a lot of chopping of other ingredients.This recipe delivers fantastic flavour and easy preparation.

This recipe was developed by Celebrity Chef David Rocca, who is also a Tommalier. What is a Tommalier you ask? A Tommalier is a person who really, really knows their tomatoes, and is passionate about, and an expert in, tomatoes and creating amazing tomato-based dishes. Isn’t that cool? Who knew?

Ingredients:
4 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
2 garlic cloves, chopped
1 bunch of fresh flat leaf parsley, chopped
2 fresh chili peppers, chopped
2 cans {14 oz/398 ml} tomatoes, such as Hunt’s Original Diced Tomatoes
1 can {19 oz/540 ml} lentils, rinsed and drained
Salt & Pepper to taste
2 tbsp. of tomato paste, such as Hunt’s Original Tomato Paste
Water
3-4 Sausages {Optional. I used it in my recipe.}

Directions:
1. In a saucepan, heat olive oil. Add garlic, parsley and chili peppers and saute for a few minutes until the garlic has started to turn golden.
2. Pour in diced tomatoes with the juice right from the tin. With the back of a wooden spoon, break up the tomatoes into little chucks. You can decide the consistency. Then add the rinsed lentils, salt & pepper. Add tomato paste, and then add water about 1/2 an inch above the lentils. Bring to a boil, then lower to medium heat and cook for 20 minutes until the soup has thickened.
3. For a heartier version of the soup, break up some sausage and let it slightly brown in a frying pan just before you add in the tomatoes. {I added the sausage to our soup.}

• Hunt’s is passionate about fresh.
• Hunt’s tomatoes are packed at the peak of ripeness.
• Each year, Hunt’s farmers grow 55 different tomato varieties so that Hunt’s experts can choose the ideal varieties based on sweetness, texture and flavor profiles.
• Hunt’s is continually testing  the variety of tomato that is produced, and in blind tests, this variety has continually ranked #1.
• Hunt’s is unwavering in it’s passion to ensure only the best and freshest tomatoes can be called Hunt’s tomatoes.

As a cook for my family, I always keep my pantry stocked with Hunts canned tomatoes and tomato paste because I use canned tomatoes every week to make meals such as soups, pasta sauces, salsa, pizza and lasagna. The tomato season is short in Canada and I know that with Hunt’s canned tomatoes packed at their peak of freshness,  I am making dishes for my family are top quality in taste!

For more tasty tomato-based recipes, please visit Hunt’s Tomatoes.

{Disclosure – This post was brought to you by enCompass Media on behalf of Con Agra Foods. Opinions expressed are my own.}