Tag Archives: soup

Lentil Soup Warm My Heart

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I love soup.  Especially in winter, when the icy cold winds seem to penetrate my body & soul.  Enter the lentil, specifically the Lentil du Puy or the French green lentil.  I adore the earthy flavor of these legumes and how they hold their shape even after cooking for an extended period.  Combined with a few aromatic ingredients, this tiny bean makes a pot full of soup that provides lots of fiber and protein, together with fantastic flavor and texture.  I promise it will warm your heart too.

Aromatics

The process is simple, wash the lentils in a strainer and pay attention to be sure there is no foreign matter mixed in (I’ve found tiny, tiny stones on occasion).  Sauté aromatic vegetables and herbs of your choice in either oil or butter, I like to add lots of ground pepper but wait to add salt later as it can impede the cooking of the legume.  If you have it handy, splash a few tablespoons of sherry, red or white wine or white vermouth onto the sautéed vegetables.  Add the lentils, add stock or water to cover the contents of the solids in the pot by a couple of inches, a tablespoon of tomato paste and simmer uncovered for a couple of hours, stirring every so often.  Add more water if the soup seems way too thick.

This time, I used 2 ribs of celery, 3 carrots, 1/2 red onion, 1 plum tomato chopped, 1 shallot, 2 cloves of garlic and lots of fresh thyme.  After sautéing the vegetables and herbs, I splashed a few tablespoons of dry sherry into the pot (You can skip this step, but I like to build the flavor and I had it.  Red or white wine or vermouth would work too).  I used water as I was gifting soup to a friend who is vegetarian but I have also used chicken or beef broth in the past.  When the soup had cooked for a couple of hours, I added a box of chopped fresh white button mushrooms and a handful of chopped, soft, sun dried tomatoes that I had sautéed together first for about 10 minutes.

Sauté of aromatic vegetables and herbs

After simmering, taste for seasoning and serve.  If you like a more pureed texture, you can use a handheld blender to puree some or all of the soup.  Sometimes I will puree a bit of the soup but always like to leave a portion of the lentils whole, as I like the texture. If you like, you can add some water if the soup is too thick for your liking.

The soup is so much better when made the day before, if you can wait.  Try toasting a piece of good bread, rubbing it with a clove of garlic which has been peeled, and then drizzling extra virgin olive oil over it, then place the toast in the bottom of the bowl and ladle the hot soup on top.

Warm my heart, lentil soup.

Lentil Soup

Roasted Tomato and Fennel Soup

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I like to make this dairy free, vegetarian soup when tomatoes are at their peak ripeness, end of summer. Look for large, meaty plum tomatoes, ideally. Caramelizing the tomato, fennel and shallot amplifies their sweetness, creating many layers of fantastic flavor. I like to serve this garnished with a slice of toasted baguette spread with creamy goat cheese

  • 2TBS + 1 Tsp extra virgin olive oil
  • 2 large shallots, peeled, trimmed and halved
  • 8 Large plum tomatoes, trimmed and halved
  • 1 Fennel Bulb, trimmed and cut into quarters, reserving the dark green leafy fronds, finely chopped
  • 1 large carrot, peeled, trimmed and chopped
  • Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
  1. Pre heat oven to 400°F
  2. Toss tomatoes, fennel and shallot with 2 TBS of oil and spread onto a non-stick sheet pan.  Place tomatoes cut side up.  Season liberally with salt and black pepper.
  3. Place pan in hot oven and cook for about 30 minutes, until vegetables start to sizzle and caramelize, looking browned.  Remove pan from oven.
  4.  While vegetables are cooking in the oven, heat remaining oil in a stock pot on medium heat. Sauté carrots sprinkled with 2 TBS of the reserved fennel fronds, stirring often for about 5 minutes until wilted and softened.
  5. Add the contents of the sheet pan, including all of the accumulated juices to the pot with the carrots. Add 4 cups of water, salt and pepper to taste to the pot.
  6. Simmer the pot on medium for 10 minutes, stirring often and taste for seasoning.
  7. Transfer contents of pot to a blender, carefully.   You may have to do this in 2 or 3 batches; blend all ingredients very well and transfer mixture to a clean pot. 
  8. Re-heat and serve immediately or allow to cool, refrigerating and serving the next day reheated.
Serves 6
Note:   Be extra careful when blending hot ingredients in a blender to allow some hot air to escape while blending ingredients, by slightly moving lid to a side position or removing the center plastic part of the lid and covering with a towel so the ingredients don’t splatter.  Neglecting this step can cause a hot explosion.