Sustain your swims: Italian wedding soup with lentils

Chef and food writer Claire Thomson shares healthy meals for longer swims from her new book, One Pan Beans. Try this hearty and healthy Italian soup for an easy midweek dinner.

Serves 4

Ingredients

400g (14oz) good-quality sausages, skins removed
1 onion, finely diced
1 carrot, finely diced
2 celery stalks, finely diced
2 tbsp olive oil
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
1 litre (35fl oz) chicken or vegetable stock
60g (2¼oz) little pasta shapes
100g (3½oz) baby spinach
250g (9oz) drained cooked or canned green lentils
Salt
Finely grated parmesan, to serve

Not to be confused with a soup to serve on your wedding day, this dish is, after all, perhaps too wholesome an offering given such an auspicious and romantic day. In Italian, the name Minestra Maritata refers to the marriage of ingredients, specifically some meat and an abundance of leafy green vegetables. I’ve taken the liberty of adding some lentils and tiny pasta shapes to the broth, and I also suggest using some good quality sausages for ease and speed (instead of making meatballs), creating a soup to enjoy 10, 20 years and more into a marriage, sitting opposite one another at the kitchen table, deeply and irrevocably in love.

Method

1. Using wet hands, roll the sausage meat into small meatballs and set aside.
2. In a large pan over a medium heat, cook the onion, carrot and celery in the olive oil for 10 minutes until soft and rich, then add the garlic and cook for 1 minute until fragrant.
3. Pour in the stock and bring to a simmer. Add the pasta and sausage meatballs and cook until the pasta is al dente and the meatballs are cooked through, anywhere between 10–15 minutes.
4. Stir in the baby spinach and lentils and cook until the spinach is wilted and the lentils are piping hot.
5. Adjust the seasoning with salt and the consistency with additional stock, as required.
6. Serve topped with some finely grated parmesan.