Lentil Soup for Sickies (and Friends)

It's been a full week since I've had real food. My nemesis the Norovirus has had me well and truly out of commission. It's been days of IV bags, misery, juice popsicles, "smart water," re-watching Twin Peaks, and trying not to think too much about pie and coffee. It was big news today then when my stomach rumbled out of hunger and the thought of eating seemed pleasing.

I held an afternoon conference with friends to determine what my re-entry food should be. We thought something mild, but not flavorless, protein rich, but not heavy, and satisfying, but not overwhelming was in order. These criteria prompted our minds to turn to the humble lentil.



Lentils were something that my early years of veg* made me wary of, mostly I think because I did not really know what to do with them. I was seduced by the notion of cooking with lentils. I like the idea of having to soak them for some reason. It seemed really culinarily advanced and all sorts of earthy. I knew that if I soaked my lentils I would master lentil soup, become a vegan chef of peerless quality, and definitely, definitely, succeed in love, but I could never remember to do it in advance of coming home to eat said lentils. So, I'd just boil them anyway and they'd be a little hard and I'd be a little, well, you know, and I'd think, what the heck am I doing with these lentils anyway?! In those early days, I was also a little less loose with the spices than I am now, and lentils, in my opinion, benefit greatly from a liberal hand when it comes to spicing things up.

In more recent years though, not only do I periodically remember to soak lentils in advance of wanting to cook with them (which has in fact coincided with success in love...), but I've also been more open to the "whole vast world of lentils." Imagine my surprise when I learned there are lentils that you don't even need to soak and lentils that cook in under 20 minutes. These were revelations.

Today we drew on mixed lentils that I purchased in bulk from our local co-op. The mix featured puy lentils, also known as French lentils which are small blackish-green things, along with tiny red lentils and teeny brown lentils. These cooked up quickly in our lovely soup, which was, in fact, the perfect thing for me to eat today.



Lemony Lentil Soup

1 T olive oil
4 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
2 shallots, peeled and chopped
2 ribs celery, trimmed and chopped
1-2 carrots, chopped (don't bother peeling if they're organic)
about 8 cups vegetable broth
28 oz can of diced tomatoes
2 cups dried puy or French lentils or mixed lentils (important that they be all of a similar size) rinse and sort the lentils, removing anything that's not obviously a lentil, like stones
2-3 T lemon juice (one squeezed lemon or bottled)
2 t coriander powder
2 t white pepper
1-2 t cumin powder
salt to taste (depending on your broth or stock you may not need much or you may wish to add a teaspoon or so)

sauté the chopped garlic and shallots in the olive oil in a large soup pot until browned
add the celery and carrots to the pot and stir, cooking until slightly tender
pour in the broth and the tomatoes with all of their liquid
add the lentils, lemon juice and spices, stir well
simmer over medium heat for 20-30 minutes, or until the lentils are sufficiently soft
adjust the spices and add salt if needed
top with fresh parsley, if you have it on hand (I often do because my guinea pigs eat it, though they had eaten through their bunch for the week already today)

optional: add a scoop of cooked rice to your bowl of soup and stir it in for a more substantial meal