Pumpkin, leek and lentil soup

This one was a very easy slow-cooker meal.  I browned some onions and garlic while a cup and a half of lentils were boiling, then chopped up half a pumpkin into small, even cubes (OK, so that took a while), a leek and several ribs of celery.

Everything went into the slow cooker with a goodly amount of white wine and chicken stock for eight hours on low - along with a little turmeric, a little paprika, a little coriander and a fair bit of oregano.

As it nears finishing you can fry some bacon and crumble it into the soup for a little extra - the salty meaty bacon goes well with the rich, slightly sweet pumpkin and fresh white bread. You could hit it with an immersion blender for a bit to even out the texture, but we ended up deciding that chunky would be better.

We ate this with the homemade bread I posted about a few days ago!