Saturday, December 29, 2007

Creamy Lentil Soup

linssoppa

Here's another hearty soup recipe - and a vegetarian one, this time. Or well, almost - you can certainly skip the bacon if you're so inclined. I love the smokey flavor it imparts, but it's no biggie. There is one thing about this soup (which I found at the Culinary Review blog) that I don't love though. And that's its uncanny likeness to sauce bolognese. It looks *just* like it. And honestly, the flavor is.. somewhat reminescent of it. Still, it's a really good soup - and hey, if it can double as a veggie (well, skipping the bacon) alternative as a pasta sauce, why not?

Creamy Lentil Soup
Serves 4

70 g bacon, diced
1 large onion, diced
2 medium carrots, diced
3 cloves of garlic, crushed
fresh thyme
400 g crushed tomatoes
250 ml (1 cup) lentils de puy (beluga lentils would work out nicely as well - something that holds its shape fairly well is what you need here)
1 bay leaf
1,2 liters of vegetable stock
50 ml white wine
1-2 tsp balsamic vinegar
salt
black pepper

Fry the bacon until crispy. Add onions, carrots and garlic and fry for a few minutes. Add lentils and tomatoes, cover with a lid and cook for 10 minutes. Add wine, the bay leaf, thyme and water. Bring to a boil and let it simmer for about 30 minutes.

Use a stick blender (or a regular one) to blend the soup until fairly smooth, but not completely. (According to your liking, obviously.) Season with salt, pepper and balsamic vinegar.

Recipe in Swedish:
Krämig linssoppa

4 comments:

Helene said...

It sounds wonderful and comforting! I love bolognese sauce and often think it would be good as a soup...I know, I am weird! Hope you have a wonderful New Year celebration!

Anonymous said...

I love lentil soups - so comforting, so filling and so delicious. I like to make slightly spiced red lentil and vegetable versions in the winter, but will definitely be trying this one too. I also love your food photography :)

Anonymous said...

Thanks for this recipe! It made me to finally open the box of lentils that had been sitting in the cupboard. They were green lentils, though... My soup looked rather exotic, but tasted good! :) I added some feta cubes for decoration. Delicious!

Anonymous said...

I am cooking a somewhat abbreviated version of this as we speak (leaving out the bacon, carrots, fresh thyme, and wine--we were short in our larder!). We also made your Isreali Couscous last night and tonight, which we are accompanying with spicy Falafel.

Thank you for your contributions to our kitchen repertoire!