Well the point of my soup was to avoid meat (which I do far too seldom), yet make it as nutritionally sound as possible. The soffritto base adds a lovely depth of flavour and the added spinach is a revelation. I do have lots of soups that contain animal protein.

As for those red lentils, my favourite use for them is to make a lentil sauce to go with spaghetti. It's half a pound of red lentils, a 440ml can of plum tomatoes, an onion that's been softened in extra virgin olive oil, a bit of chopped garlic, a pinch of cinnamon and a pinch of dried oregano. It all goes into a pan with enough hot water added gradually to make it sloppy by the end of the half-hour cooking. That gets dumped on a stack of wholemeal spaghetti and sprinkled with cheese. There's enough sauce for at least three people there. Very filling, very nutritious.