This is a pretty basic, very tasty lentil and veggie soup that I made tonight. You will need:
2 boxes of chicken stock (I use low-sodium, organic, free range chicken broth cos I’m from California)
1 medium yellow onion
2 cloves of garlic
1 large carrot
1 green pepper (Clearly, I used orange because I didn’t have a green one)
2 stalks of celery
1 can of stewed tomatoes (I used diced because like the pepper, I didn’t have stewed tomatoes)
1 large potato (I used two because my potatoes were small. heh.)
3/4 cup lentils (picked over and washed)
Salt, pepper, bay leaf
Lemon
First, chop up all the veggies so you’re prepared. I promise that there is onion, celery and garlic in that white prep bowl:
Sautee the onion, celery and garlic for 5 minutes in the soup pot. I put just a smidge of olive oil in there because otherwise it would stick to my pot.
Next, add the chicken stock, the can of tomatoes, salt, pepper, and a bay leaf or two, and all the veggies except for the potato. (or potatoes)
Also add your 3/4 cup picked over and washed lentils. I usually wash mine in a mini-strainer
Simmer on medium heat for a half-hour or so. In the meantime, chop up the potato (or potatoes. And if you’re in my kind of kitchen, also remove any thing that has started to sprout from the potatoes…)
Add the potatoes and simmer away for about another half hour or until the lentils and the potatoes are tender:
When everything is done cooking, I usually fish out the bay leaves and put them aside. Then I take my handheld blender/mixer thingie and blend a bit of the soup to make it thicker. My mom uses a blender and takes about a 1/3 of the soup out, blends it, and then puts it back in. Just a few pulses should be fine:
Squeeze a bit of lemon into the soup, then serve it up with some fresh, warm and crusty French or sourdough bread. Yum!
