Friday, October 24, 2008

I love lentil soup!

And it's all mine! You may think I'm being greedy, but my husband is terrified that one of these days I'm going to serve this soup to him. I'm not sure why lentils have such a bad reputation, but there it is. This is the soup I make all Fall and Winter, freezing it in individual portions and eating it for lunch at home or at work. Besides freezing well, the other great things about this soup are how easy it is to make and the fact that I ususally have all the ingredients on hand. Here they are.

Those are French Du Puy lentils which I've had since last year. All the stores around here are OUT of them right now. Why is that? Is there an embargo problem with French lentils?



This is the sauteed bacon with carrots and onion added. You could leave the bacon out and use olive oil for a vegetarian soup.

By the way, the recipe for this soup comes from The New Best Recipe by the Cook's Illustrated folks. They'll have my head if I give you the recipe, but if you search around a bit, you can find variations of it.



Here I've added garlic, bay, thyme, and tomatoes.



Now the lentils have been added. The secret to this recipe is sweating the lentils before adding the liquid; they stay firm that way.



I added liquid - wine, broth, and water and simmered. Here is the final product, part of the soup has been pureed in the blender to thicken it.



I guess it's not that pretty, but is sure smells and tastes good.

Have a nice weekend!

21 comments:

Lezlie said...

Lentils are one of my favorite foods! This looks wonderful!

Lezlie

Anonymous said...

I love soup - it looks delicious to me. Your carrots are huge!

Ti said...

My word woman! Those carrots are ginormous. I ADORE lentils.

I know lentils are not quite the same as beans but I have this great bean site you might be interested in. I make a lot of bean soups in the Fall and this site has gorgeous lookign beans. If a bean can be considered gorgeous.

http://www.ranchogordo.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=SFNT&Store_Code=RG

melanie said...

ooh i can almost smell it. i love soup weather.

i'm a bad girl, and "ruin" it by adding sausage :)

Anonymous said...

I believe many husbands are afraid of lentils. And tofu. There should be a cookbook like that one for kids that tells you how to disguise good food so husbands will eat it!

Anonymous said...

That looks really good!!! And those are the biggest carrots I have ever seen!!

Carrie K said...

Yum, that looks good. My favorite lentil soup is made with chicken stock, lentils and then a dash of molasses and red pepper (the spice, not the vegetable).

My ex husband was the one that introduced me to that dish.

Marie Cloutier said...

that soup looks amazing!:-)

Tara said...

Lezlie, how else do you like to eat them?

bermudaonion, aren't they enourmous!

Ti, I KNOW! I bought them at the grocery store. They are totally on steroids. I know about Rancho Gordo but haven't tried their products - I'd like to. Tell me what sort of bean soups you make please!


Melanie, I love soup weather too, I could eat soup every day from now on.

rhapsodyinbooks, Hi! You're so right. Mine will try pretty much anything, but, as you said lentils and tofu!

Kristina, thanks, and they are the biggest ones I've ever seen too!

Carrie K, your soup sounds delish, I like the idea of adding molasses.

Marie, thank you!

Lezlie said...

Hi, Tara! We use lentils a lot in Indian food and in salads. A couple of my favorites are a Lemony Lentil Pasta Salad and one that is made with lentils, red peppers, and feta cheese with a balsamic vinegar dressing. I've had the recipes for a long time and they may have come from Recipesource.com or a magazine I used to get called Veggie Life. I could email you the recipes if you're interested.

Lezlie

StuckInABook said...

When I became vegetarian, there was a period when Mum gave me lentils everyday - I think to put me off, but she lost on that score because I really like them!
Simon

Andi said...

Oh YUMMM! I love lentils so much.

Jodie Robson said...

Mmm, how could you not love something so delicious?

Danielle said...

I think it looks delicious! My SIL sometimes makes lentil soup, but it is a little bit different recipe. Lentils are yummy and I would be thinking greedily, too! :)

Tara said...

Lezlie, I would love to have your recipes - thanks so much for the offer. Let me know what sort of lentils you like to use. Thank you!

Simon, that's funny - I suppose she didn't want to deal with having a vegetarian in the house. I think a lot of people feel nervous or anxious about feeding vegetarians.

Andi, thanks! Me too.

GeraniumCat, I don't know, he just won't try them. He thought he disliked guacamole too, until I made him try some that I made and now he loves it.

Danielle, thank you. There's so many variations and different spices you could use...I'm pretty stuck in ways with this method, though!

Iliana said...

I love lentil soup - it's my favorite. I'm craving some now that's for sure. By the way, so glad to hear you guys had a great time on your trip!

Melwyk said...

This looks delicious! I love lentils, and can almost smell this soup. Must go make some...

Tara said...

Iliana, thanks so much!

Melanie, I love that so many people love lentils! I must tell my husband he is in the minority.

Mrs of the Regiment said...

Gosh it looks yummy. I have a couple of lentil soup recipes which call for slicing in a frankfurt at the end. I don't know what it would be like though!

Tara said...

Pink lady bug, I think it would be good with sausage, though I don't eat hot dogs (what you call a frankfurter).

Cath said...

Thought I would let you know, Tara, that I just made your lentil soup for lunch. It tastes wonderful.