For 6-8 people

Prep time: 20 minutes

Difficulty: easy

Ingredients

For the soup:

• 1 big white onion
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 4 middle-size zucchinis
• ½ glass red lentils
• 2 garlic cloves
• 1 tablespoon heavy cream
• Salt
• 1 pinch ground nutmeg

For the pesto:

• 1 big bunch basil (approx. 10-12 sprigs)
• 1 glass pine nuts or pistachios
• 1 garlic clove
• ½ glass olive oil
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice

Preparation

This easy recipe is convenient to freeze, so don’t hesitate to double the ingredients and save the extra soup for another time!

Pour the oil in a large pot. Peel and quarter the onion, fry 5 minutes on low heat. Add the diced zucchini and fry 2 minutes, stirring occasionally. Then add the lentils, garlic, salt and nutmeg, cover with water (not too much – you want to cook the ingredients without too much excess fluids) and cook covered for 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, make the pesto. To enhance the flavor of the pine nuts or pistachios, toast them 5 minutes in the oven at 170°C. In a food processor, blend the washed and checked basil leaves, the pine nuts or pistachios, the garlic, the olive oil, and the lemon juice until the paste is homogenous. The pesto will keep up to 10 days in a glass jar in the refrigerator. Now add one heaped tablespoon of the pesto to your soup once it is cooked. Stir in the heavy cream and blend with a hand blender until the soup is smooth and creamy.

Bon appétit!