Vegetarian Meatball and Tomato Soup with Lentil and Basil

Ingredients

For the soup

• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 large onion finely chopped
• 1 red pepper deseeded and diced
• 2 cloves garlic crushed
• 1 x 400g can chopped tomatoes
• 800ml vegtable stock, made with 1 low-salt vegetable stock cube
• 150g dried red lentils
• 2 tbsp tomato purée
• 300g Quorn Swedish-style meatballs
• 20g fresh basil
• Black pepper to taste

To serve

• 4 chunks seeded bread
• 1 tbsp Italian-style hard cheese grated (optional)

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 200°C/gas mark 6.
2. In a large saucepan, heat the oil and fry the onion gently for 5 minutes, until softened. Add the pepper and fry for a further 3 minutes. Add the garlic and fry for 1 minute.
3. Pour in the chopped tomatoes and stock, followed by the lentils and tomato purée. Bring to the boil, cover with a lid and simmer gently for 25 minutes, until the lentils are tender.
4. Place the Quorn meatballs on a lightly oiled baking tray. Bake in the oven for 20 minutes or until browned and heated through.
5. Roughly chop ¾ of the basil. When the soup is ready, remove from the heat, season with black pepper and process with a hand blender for a few seconds to roughly blend the soup, but retain some texture. Stir through the Quorn meatballs and chopped basil.
6. Serve the soup in warm bowls with the remaining whole basil leaves, a chunk of seeded bread and an optional sprinkling of Italian-style hard cheese.