winter soup session: lentil

There are so many different recipes for lentil soup: some are pureed, some are chunky, some are yellow, some are red, some have orange zest and ginger, some have sausage, some have vinegar.  I inherited my go to lentil soup recipe from my friend Sarah who had served it to my daughter for dinner.  It comes, adapted from the blog "vicious ange", from Bill Granger's "Sydney Food" and it is delicious: hearty, vegetarian, with a bit of a kick from the chiles de arbol.

Here are the pots from this week's Family Table cooking.  We were a symphony in red, a true advertisement for Le Creuset's cherry line.

As you can see from the picture, it is a thick soup.  If you like more of a brothy soup, just increase the amount of stock or water that you use.

Lentil Soup by The Family Table

Lentils were recently called one of the five healthiest foods by Health Magazine.  After soybeans and hemp, lentils have the most protein of any legumes or nuts.  When eaten with rice, lentils are a complete protein (contains all nine of the essential amino acids necessary for a human's diet).  They are also have a good fiber content, good iron, folic acid and vitamin D.   My preferred lentil is the green lentils de Puy, mostly because they keep their shape so nicely in a soup or for a lentil salad. 

How to cook lentils:

• Rinse the lentils, until the water runs clear, then put them in a pot
• Top them with water, covering by a couple inches.  Salt.
• Bring to a boil.
• Turn the heat down to a simmer, cover the pot.
• Cook until it is to your liking.  This usually takes about 20 minutes. Test it, it is done when it is soft.
• Drain the excess water out. 

I love tossing my warm lentils with a simple mustard vinaigrette, maybe adding in some diced red onions and eating for lunch. It is also a great bed for a seared filet of salmon. Or, cool them down, keep them in freezer bags in your freezer until you have a lentil hankering. They are a great way to get some protein into a simple green salad.

We also made Cauliflower Flatbread to go along with our soup:

 
Roasted cauliflower is one of my family's favorite vegetable.  I just cut the cauliflower into smaller florets, toss it in olive oil, salt and pepper and then bake on a pyrex glass dish at about 400 degrees for 30 minutes or so.  The cauliflower gets all brown and caramelized.

If it is not all eaten the moment it comes out of the oven, use this recipe from Mark Bittman for a nice side, or as a yummy appetizer.