This soup is my daughter’s favourite one. My Granny cooked it for me and my brother and then my mum for Cecilia. It’s a really easy and healthy recipe. Lentils are tasty and nutritious. They are a good source of iron, folate, dietary fibre and protein. They are also very low in saturated fat, cholesterol and sodium.

Serves 4 as the main course

• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil (EVO)
• 1 tablespoon tomato purée (I usually buy the organic one)
• Fine sea salt (1/2 teaspoon)
• 2 litres of water
• 2 medium potatoes or 1 large (my favourite are the red ones)
• 1 large red onion
• 1 courgette
• 1 stalk celery
• 1 bay leaf
• 150 gr dried small lentils (they can be cooked without soaking)
• 120 gr ditalini rigati (tiny, ridged pasta tubes)

Peel onion and potatoes and wash them with celery and courgette. Dice all of them into medium cubes, except the stalk celery.

Place diced onion and extra-virgin olive oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add fine salt and cook, stirring frequently, about 2 minutes. Add the lentils, stalk celery and diced potatoes and courgette and cook, stirring frequently, about 5 minutes more, then add 2 litres of water and 1 bay leaf. Bring to a boil and then reduce the heat to a simmer. Cook, covered with a lid, about 30 minutes.

When the soup is ready, remove and discard the bay leaf and the stalk celery. Add the pasta tubes to the soup and simmer about 10 minutes more. Turn off the heat, taste to check for seasoning and let the soup rest for few minutes, then ladle soup into bowls. Drizzle extra-virgin olive oil over each portion and two basil leave on the top.

Buon appetito!