Chorizo and red lentil soup, just what you need for a cold winter's day

Beautiful, delicious, simple.

 This soup recipe is adapted from one in the excellent Donna Hay's Fresh, Fast, Simple. It doesn't look like much and the first time I made it I thought "oh dear" when I saw it but then I tasted it and belies its meagre ingredients. I eat it with a poached egg in it, which I poach separately and pop into the soup just before serving, just for a little extra protein sustenance.

1. 2 teaspoons of vegetable oil
2. One finely chopped onion
3. Some chorizo, up to you how much, I use about so much (6" of a small circumference chorizo) and I slice it and then half the slices so you end up with half moons.
4. A few sprigs of thyme leaves
5. 150g red lentils
6. 1.25L of chicken of vegetable stock, stock cubes are fine. I use Kallo Organic
7. Sea salt and pepper

Heat  the oil in the saucepan and add the onion and chorizo. Fry gently until the onion is soft. Now add the thyme (I add the whole stalk and the leaves come off and then I fish out the stalks at the end, do pick off the leaves if you want to), lentils and stock. Cover and simmer for 20 minutes.

That's it. The lentils should have started to break down. Taste it and see if it needs salt and pepper, it may do depending on how salty your stock was.

This serves about four people.

With poached egg in. It sounds weird but I promise it works. Unless of course you don't like eggs.