(no subject)
Jan. 23rd, 2005 05:35 pmI made lentil soup today. It came out pretty well. I'm happy with it. This is not the fennel-lentil soup from The Hungry Tiger, which was quite good and which I shall most definitely make again. This is my own lentil soup.
Ingredients:
olive oil, white onion, garlic, carrots, celery, raw mushrooms, brown lentils (dry), chicken stock, one can tomatoes, salt, pepper, basil, bay leaf
Directions:
Put a dollop of olive oil in the bottom of a large pan. Add chopped onion (about half a large white one) and sliced garlic (four or five cloves), sautee these until fragrant. Add chicken stock (mine's home-made and frozen in unmeasured amounts, but if you're doing cans, call it two cans), one can tomatoes (chopped, with juice), 8 oz fresh mushrooms sliced, three carrots (sliced), two stalks celery (chopped), bay leaf, and a couple of generous shakes of dried basil. Add 1 cup dry brown lentils, rinsed. Add a cup and a half, maybe two cups water, too -- however much you need to make it look like soup. You will be cooking this until the lentils are tender and the carrot slices are done through. Use a medium boil, check on it occasionally, stir to prevent sticking. This doesn't take forever, less than an hour. Salt and pepper to taste. If you're using home-made stock (strongly suggested -- it tastes better than the canned stuff), make sure you salt the soup. Soup takes an enormous amount of salt to taste right.
I know that there aren't tons of measurements here, but lentil soup is pretty hard to do incorrectly. It's a robust recipe with a lot of margin for error and experimentation. Feel free to live a little, come up with a lentil soup that works for you. My only advice on that front is to take notes so that you know what works and what doesn't.
Ingredients:
olive oil, white onion, garlic, carrots, celery, raw mushrooms, brown lentils (dry), chicken stock, one can tomatoes, salt, pepper, basil, bay leaf
Directions:
Put a dollop of olive oil in the bottom of a large pan. Add chopped onion (about half a large white one) and sliced garlic (four or five cloves), sautee these until fragrant. Add chicken stock (mine's home-made and frozen in unmeasured amounts, but if you're doing cans, call it two cans), one can tomatoes (chopped, with juice), 8 oz fresh mushrooms sliced, three carrots (sliced), two stalks celery (chopped), bay leaf, and a couple of generous shakes of dried basil. Add 1 cup dry brown lentils, rinsed. Add a cup and a half, maybe two cups water, too -- however much you need to make it look like soup. You will be cooking this until the lentils are tender and the carrot slices are done through. Use a medium boil, check on it occasionally, stir to prevent sticking. This doesn't take forever, less than an hour. Salt and pepper to taste. If you're using home-made stock (strongly suggested -- it tastes better than the canned stuff), make sure you salt the soup. Soup takes an enormous amount of salt to taste right.
I know that there aren't tons of measurements here, but lentil soup is pretty hard to do incorrectly. It's a robust recipe with a lot of margin for error and experimentation. Feel free to live a little, come up with a lentil soup that works for you. My only advice on that front is to take notes so that you know what works and what doesn't.