Soup

[magid]

I've been wanting soup for a while now. Not just any soup, but a lentil soup. And today I finally assembled everything I wanted to put into my soup, and it's bubbling happily on the stove. Though I think it's well on it's way to stew, rather than soup.

First, I browned two medium Vidalia onions, chopped, [edit:four cloves of garlic, lightly crushed,] then added a package (8?) of partly defrosted sausages. On top of that went two leeks, sliced, and two sweet potatoes, chunked. Plus a healthy quantity of black pepper. I added water to the level of the stuff, and dumped in a big bag of mostly lentils (some split peas had made it in, too). After that, I sliced up five biggish mushrooms, and added a package of frozen chopped spinach. More black pepper, a bit of salt, and it's just what I'd imagined, though I'm debating just a touch of cayenne.

Challah rolls are made, chicken thighs have been cooked in mango chutney, and I picked some leaves off the porch to supplement the mesclun I bought.

Comments

[infinitehotel.livejournal.com]

Sounds terrific to me. I'm a huge fan of lentil soup.

The onions, check, definitely. Never tried leeks before though, that's kind of interesting. What do they add? Lately I've been throwing a handful of spinach into almost everything I cook, so that works, but I hate the texture of cooked mushrooms hidden in things, so I'd likely leave those out. I usually use carrots because they're on hand but sweet potatoes sound delightful. And what kind of sausages? My platonic lentil soup has browned and sliced sweet Italian sausage, but I'm pro-sausage in pretty much all its forms and manifestations.

Hm...I'm typing really fast and rambling about my food preferences. Yep, the espresso is kicking in. :)

[magid.livejournal.com]

Strangely, I used to be uninterested in lentil soup, in favor of such soups as split pea and mushroom-barley.

Leeks are a more delicate sweetness. They're more noticeably different in non-soup contexts (three-onion matza meal pancakes, for instance, lets you compare and contrast onions, leeks, and scallions). Here, though, they melt into the soup rather like onions, though with extra green stuff. All I know is that I wanted leeks in my soup, which isn't usually something I think of, so I did it.

Spinach is so versatile. I don't like not having any (fresh or frozen) in the house.

The mushrooms aren't so hidden; I cut them rather large. I like them for their slightly meaty texture, so I guess I'm surprised that you don't care for them cooked.

I could've used carrots, but I wanted how sweet potatoes mush more than carrots.

As for sausages, I got some MealMart ones that weren't sweet or particularly spicy (though I probably should've gone with the spicy ones), called something horrible like "glatties" (Glatt being particularly kosher when dealing with red meat.). They're fine, but I think I would've preferred the spicy Italian sausages.
[I've found three kinds of sausage at the Butcherie: these neutral ones, or sweet Italian, or spicy Italian. I get envious reading about all the different flavors and such that non-kosher people have.]

[ichur72.livejournal.com]

If you would like to try a Greek recipe for lentils, here it is:

Dice an onion and stir-fry the pieces in olive oil (in a large casserole pot) until translucent. Turn the heat to low. Add 1 large can diced tomatoes, at least 2 cans worth of water, 1 standard package of red lentils, a few stems worth of chopped parsley, 8-10 cloves, 2-3 allspice berries, 1/2 tsp. cinnamon, 1 tsp. salt. Stir. Turn the heat to high and bring to a boil. Then cover pot and let simmer for about an hour. Serve with about a teaspoon of cider vinegar on top, if desired.

[magid.livejournal.com]

That sounds yummy. And all I'd need to get is red lentils, allspice berries, and some parsley. Once I finish the vat of soup...