• 4 medium carrots
• 1 large potato
• 1 medium onion
• 3 cloves garlic
• 4 slices bacon
• 7 sage leaves
• 2 cups red lentils
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 6 cups chicken stock
• Ground pepper
• Salt

Dice all the vegetables. Chop and cook the bacon in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Discard most of the bacon drippings, reduce heat to medium and add the diced vegetables. Cook for about 5 minutes then add the finely chopped sage leaves, lentils and cumin, and cook for a couple more minutes.

Add the stock, a healthy amount of ground pepper and a decent pinch of salt. Stir to combine all ingredients.

Simmer for about half an hour until the lentils are well cooked and the vegetables soft—keep an eye on the level of stock in the pot as the lentils absorb a lot of the liquid. Top off with stock or water if necessary.

Let the soup cool slightly before carefully pureeing with a hand blender or something similar.

The soup is best served the following day, but if you can't wait, serve immediately!