Chop the carrot, onion, celery and shallot thinly and prepare a soffritto in the extra virgin olive oil. To do so, place the oil in a hot frying pan, let it heat and then add the chopped ingredients in. Let cook, stirring, until the onions are golden.
At this stage, add the lentils, along with the laurel and the rosemary. Stir well and toast them for a couple of minutes.
Add vegetable broth to cover the lentils completely and let simmer on a medium heat until cooked. This usually takes about 40 minutes.
In case the broth evaporates, yet you find the lentils to be still hard, add some more broth, maybe a glass or two, and let it evaporate. Repeat until the lentils are cooked.
Depending on how salty your broth is, you may like to add a pinch of salt to the stew while it is cooking.