Lentil Soup Yums

It's Fall. Our first seedlings came up today (radishes, carrots, and cabbage--little overachievers:) and I've got a belly full of the first good soup of the season. Never mind it was 91 degrees outside today. It's been one oppressively hot summer, and even 91 degrees feels like sweet relief. Everybody can smell cool weather coming. The kids in school are extra restless, driving the teachers crazy, and there are festivals every weekend. Here's to the energy in the air, the best time of year to garden in Texas, and yummy, yummy lentil soup. This is a totally original recipe, so if I have any testers out there, this would be a great one to test. It turned out really good too. We had it with a salad of romaine lettuce, shredded carrots, beet greens, kale, a sprinkle of diced shallots, a bell pepper from the garden, and radishes with homemade ranch.

Next day: It is sooooo good the next day. That is all.

Lentil Soup

To cook the lentils:
1 cup dried brown lentils
2 1/2 cups water
1 love garlic
1 T pepper
1 T salt

For the rest of the soup:
4 cups water
1 1/2 T real butter and 1 more set aside to soften and add later
3-4 T olive oil
5+ large cloves fresh garlic, minced
2 shallots, minced
1 yellow onion, chopped
1 T plus 1 t salt plus more to taste
sprig fresh oregano
1 poblano, chopped
3 Roma tomatoes, chopped
1 T cumin
1 t cayenne pepper or a few diced fresh cayennes if you can get them
1 grated carrot
1/4 t nutmeg
1 bay leaf
2 T lemon juice*
1 T ginger, minced**
1 pureed sweet potato***

*I used 1 t apple cider vinegar because I didn't have lemon juice, and it was good, but I have no doubt fresh lemon juice would be better in this recipe
**I didn't add the ginger, but I know it would be really good and I will next time
***Great if you want a thicker soup. Add a pinch more each of cumin, salt, and cayenne if you use the sweet potato.

Boil 2 1/2 c. water with lentils, salt, and garlic clove. Bring down and simmer 25 minutes with lid on. Remove from heat and let sit until you are ready for them.

In medium stock pot, melt butter in olive oil over med-low heat. Add onions, peppers, garlic, ginger and shallots and sautee until fragrant. Don't burn the garlic, even a little. Add carrots, fresh and dried spices, cayennes, cooked lentils, tomatoes, bay leaf. Stir and let them cook a a little before adding the water. Bring to boil, then simmer 30 minutes. Add lemon juice, salt to taste. Cool some--maybe leave it on the stove top for half an hour while you make the salad. Then puree about a third of it along with another T of butter and pour it back in. Serve warm.


May I also add, I am reading Kitchen Confidential but Anthony Bourdain right now, and it is awesome. I am tempted to launch into tirades about garlic presses and dried herbs, but I used my garlic press yesterday and dried herbs tonight, so that would be lame of me. It is an enthralling, inspiring, and informative read so far.