Thanks to Dorie Greenspan, I have become a bit addicted to French Green Lentils (lentilles du Puy). This nicely coincides with my desire to eat a higher percentage of “super foods”. Which kind of led me to this recipe.
I almost always take my lunch to work (though it often leads me to working all the way through…), and I love soups because they are easy to eat at my desk, are often filled with vegetables, and are filling while still being nourishing.
This is really quite simple. Dice onion, carrot and celery into similarly-sized pieces. Then saute in 1 T olive oil until the onions start to become translucent.
Then add the chopped kale, tomatoes (I had some yellow ones I’d picked up a farm stand) and the lentils. I love Penzey’s broth bases, and here I used beef, since I thought it would be a nice deep flavor, though you could use vegetable stock for a vegan dish or chicken – depending on your taste.
This is then all simmered together, for about 40 minutes or so. Until the lentils and vegetables are all tender.
I like to blend the soup with an immersion blender – not really eliminating all of the chunks, but just smoothing it a bit. Then it’s seasoned with salt and pepper, and that’s it. It doesn’t need much garnish, though I’m sure (now that I think of it), some kale chips, croutons, or even bacon (!) would be a good addition and dress it up.
I think it would be fun to change this up a bit too. I really need to try some different lentil varieties. Some sweet potato chunks would be great, and I’m sure you could add more vegetables. This recipe makes about a week’s worth of servings (ok, about 4-5), so it’s good to put together when you get prepped for the week. Who doesn’t need somehing easy and yummy to help you through your work-day?
dulceshome 