Lentil Soup

Mel and I make this soup quite often. We wanted a lentil soup and Mel came across an Alton Brown recipe that sounded fairly quick but delicious. We've modified it in a few spots in order to fix it into words but we've only really followed the recipe once. Its a good guide though. I like smelling each spice separately for a few moments before mixing all the spices together in a little bowl. Smell the resulting concoction before adding it to the soup.

Ingredients:

2 tbsp olive oil
1 cup onion (chopped)
1/2 cup carrot (chopped)
1/2 cup celery (chopped)
2 tsp salt
1 pound lentils (green & orange)
1 cup tomatoes (peeled & chopped)
8 cups chicken broth (or vegetable)
1/2 tsp coriander
1/2 tsp cumin
1/3 tsp ginger
1/3 tsp cardamum
1/3 tsp black pepper

Directions:

soak

• Lentils to soften (for an indeterminate amount of time depending on when you remember to do this).

chop

• onions, carrots, celery and tomatoes

sweat

• Heat olive oil in a Dutch oven over medium heat.
• When hot, sweat onions, carrots, celery and salt until the onions are soft and translucent.

add

• Add lentils, tomatoes, and broth.
• Mix together spices. Savour. Add spices.

stir

heat to high; bring to a boil

reduce heat to low; cover and simmer

• Wait until lentils are tender.