My wonderful friends are coming over today to help me get ready for my first big juried craft show. The show is this weekend at Centennial H. S. and with over 200 vendors it appears to be quite the event. Table display is an important part of the judging, so I need help with practicing before hand. I want to thank my friends by sending them home with a good cold night supper that will be easy to reheat and serve.
I don’t know about everyone else, but all the Thanksgiving hype on TV, in magazines, and just everywhere is overwhelming. It’s hard to think beyond the turkey and dressing and sweet potatoes and pie and….well you get the idea. In response, I’m turning off my Thanksgiving radar until next week and instead planning to make a big pot of creamy luscious lentil soup and some delicious cornbread. I think I’ll throw in my favorite Kale Salad (You’re Grown – Now You Can Cook, page 55) to make the dinner seem a little more special.
This Lentil Soup is simply the best thing to warm you up, fill you up, and make you happy. I’ve been cooking it and playing around with the recipe since college, and to my family it’s just perfection. With tomatoes and some warm spices added in, the flavor is just out of this world. I plan to tuck a little bottle of sherry in the dinner basket to add a final pop of flavor when they serve the soup. It’s my favorite addition to Lentil Soup, although unnecessary if you don’t have any on hand, or, heaven forbid, don’t like it. Actually, the soup itself, beyond sautéing the onions for a few minutes, takes very little work (good for a busy day), and has the added bonus of an hour of the delicious scent of simmering soup (good for lifting spirits on a busy day). Blend it up and voila- soup is on! What a lovely thought! I hope my friends enjoy it and I hope you will too. Stay warm!
Ingredients
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 tsp turmeric
1 tsp cumin
2 tsp chili powder
¼ tsp red pepper flakes
3 ½ cups water
2 ½ cups dried lentils (I use a combination of green and brown – but any lentil will do!)
¼ cup fresh cilantro, chopped (don’t use it if you don’t like it)
7 cups chicken or vegetable broth
28 oz can diced tomatoes
salt to taste
Optional garnishes: 1 Tbsp sherry for each bowl of soup, cilantro sprigs, chopped tomatoes, green onions (My husband likes sour cream, but I think that’s just plain weird.)
Directions
In a large pot or Dutch oven, heat olive oil over medium high heat.
Add onions and sauté for about 5 minutes until tender.
Add garlic and dry spices (turmeric through red pepper flakes), and sauté for 1 minute.
Add water, lentils, cilantro, broth, and tomatoes- lower heat to simmer.
Simmer for an hour, until lentils are tender.
Reserve 2 cups of soup and puree the remainder in batches, in the blender.
Stir reserved lentil and blended soup together and taste for salt. (Broth has different levels of salt so your taste buds are your measuring source for this.)
If the soup is thicker than you like add extra water or broth.
Reheat and serve with desired garnishes.
