Hearty Vegetarian Lentil Soup - cooking recipe

Ingredients

2 tablespoons olive oil
2 cups finely diced onions
3 large garlic cloves
salt
pepper
3 tablespoons tomato paste
1/2 cup diced celery
1/2 cup diced carrot
2 bay leaves
1/2 cup chopped parsley (I use dried)
1 1/2 cups french green lentils or 1 1/2 cups brown lentils, washed
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon red wine or 1 tablespoon sherry wine vinegar

Preparation

In soup pot, saute onion in oil until soft.
Work minced garlic into 1 teaspoon of salt to form a paste and add to onions.
Mix in tomato paste. Add celery, carrot bay leaves and parley. Cook 3 minutes.
Add lentils, 2 quarts of water and 1/2 tsp of salt and bring to a boil.
Lower heat and simmer 25-30 minutes till everything is tender.
Stir in mustard and vinegar. Garnish with celery leaves and parsley if desired.