Lentil Soup

[DanM]

I was planning on a nice pot of lentil soup this Saturday, so I came here to read all of the sage advice from people who are much smarter and experienced than me. Much to my surprise, this classic, humble, and comforting dish does not have a thread of its own!

So, what are your thoughts on lentil soup? What style do you prefer (French, Middle Eastern, Indian, etc...)? What do you put in it, besides lentils?

Dan

Edited January 26, 2012 by DanM (log)

[weinoo]

Mirepoix and sometimes a pork product or two.

[rotuts]

its most important to understand what lentils you hope to use.

there are the 'brown' very good

and the 'green' originally from France. they cook differently.

Lentils are 'hearty' they love 'heartyness' ie sausage with 'strengh'

but are very good as a 'vegetarian' item as long as you understand its 'heartty-ness'

[Darienne]

Green lentils in our very favorite lentil soup from Bon Appetit Made the last batch just two days ago. I use more spinach and don't add the crushed red pepper. Love that lentil soup.

[Jaymes]

Zov Golden Lentil Soup Edited January 26, 2012 by Jaymes (log)

[Blether]

Two versions here.

1 - sweated onions & carrot, chicken stock, orange (i.e. split, shell-less brown) lentils, salt & pepper. Serve as is or blend smooth; consistency depends on the stock to lentil ratio, anything from thinly creamy to stand-your-spoon-up.

2 - "Bacon and brown lentil soup" after Delia Smith. Brown lentils, chicken stock, and various chopped veg including celery, carrots and broken-up tinned tomatoes, and garlic. I tend to leave out the cabbage.

Number 1 takes well to an Indian seasoning.

Edited January 26, 2012 by Blether (log)

[sahmd]

It's more of a lentil dish than a lentil SOUP, but I've had great luck with recipes based on Simon Majumdar's "LSD" (Life Saving Dahl). I got the recipe from his Dos Hermanos blog, and have made it straight from the recipe (served over hard boiled eggs - yum) and played around with the veggies and spices in a bunch of different ways - delicious.

[Shel_B]

We like this recipe from Molly Wisenberg quite a bit. I use a mild curry, and less of it, in defference to Toots' preference. I also prefer a nice, home made chicken stock, not too rich.

Edited January 27, 2012 by Shel_B (log)

[LindaK]

Zov Golden Lentil Soup

I make a similar red lentil soup from the excellent cookbook Sultan's Kitchen, a local Turkish restaurant. Recipe here

Best lentil soup ever. It's hard to believe something so simple can be so tasty. The dried mint makes it.

[Franci]

I recently tried this by N. Slater. In his book, Tender, the recipe uses chards instead. Stalks get cut in small cubes and added at the beginning after softening the onions and the chiffonade of leaves at the last 5 minutes. Really, really good. I loved the mint and lemon in it.

On the same line, I also tried this, simpler lebanese version.

And also this from Ottolenghi's book. This is the one I liked the least. Not bad but N. Slater's version was more to my liking.

Otherwise, I often mix red, small green and brown lentils (the brown presoaked) to get a soup of different textures. I also like to add shredded birds meat (pheasants, duck, etc).

Edited January 28, 2012 by Franci (log)

[Blether]

Yes, lentil soup works really well with some sharpness - lemon juice, or tomatoes as in the brown lentil soup I posted above. Also, especially with a poultry stock, adding white wine takes it to another level.

[Jaymes]

Zov Golden Lentil Soup

I make a similar red lentil soup from the excellent cookbook Sultan's Kitchen, a local Turkish restaurant. Recipe here

Best lentil soup ever. It's hard to believe something so simple can be so tasty. The dried mint makes it.

Yes. Although it doesn't mention it in that online recipe to which I linked, in the cookbook, "Zov," it says, as a garnish, to melt 2 TBLS butter in a small saucepan/skillet until it begins to foam. Then stir in a tsp or so of dried mint, and add to soup just before serving.

Mint really enhances this soup. Not sure why the mint was not included in the online recipe, but that's just one more reason to buy the cookbook. It's a really terrific book and I'd recommend it to anyone interested in Middle-Eastern cuisine.

[ChrisTaylor]

I have a pot of lamb, barley and lentil soup ticking away at the moment. I started with Fergus Henderson's recipe for lamb necks with barley.

Stage one:

Lamb necks, lamb shanks, mirepoix, tomato paste and vegetable stock. Obviously homemade lamb stock would be a superior choice.

Stage two:

Remove mirepoix and lamb bones. Add pearl barley and split peas. When they're about half done, add black lentils and whole peeled shallots (a nod to one of my favourite aspects of classic braises like coq au vin: the pearl onions).

[SylviaLovegren]

Yes, lentil soup works really well with some sharpness - lemon juice, or tomatoes as in the brown lentil soup I posted above. Also, especially with a poultry stock, adding white wine takes it to another level.

My Greek family always serve lentil soup with a cruet of vinegar for each eater to splash to his own taste.

I make it the way my mom did with onion, garlic, bay leaf, carrot, celery and a ham hock, then serve over rice.

[Wholemeal Crank]

Missed this thread first time it came up. Lentil soup is my favorite thing, whether savory & sausage-rich or curried veggie.

My favorite versions are this hearty German-style soup, this almost sweet-n-sour variation on an Armenian recipe, and my own meatless but not necessarily vegetarian lentil-spelt variationthat gets an unexpectedly chewy kick from the spelt.

[thirtyoneknots]

We ate a lot of soup this last winter, and probably my personal favorite, both from a flavor perspective and from the pleasure of having cobbled it together from what was laying around, went something like this:

Sliced two huge onions and sweated in duck fat til they became very soft, added a significant amount of garlic, plus thyme and bay leaf. Added about 2 cups of the green French lentils, an appropriate amount of poultry broth/stock (including confit jelly), and two confit duck legs. Simmered 20-30 min, removed the duck legs, picked all the meat off and added back in along with a large amount of Swiss Chard from the garden. Served over heavily toasted sourdough bread that had been rubbed with raw garlic.

So nice when things just sort of come together, isn't it?

[Kim Shook]

I love the sound of Chris' lamb, barley and lentil soup. I think that lamb and lentils have a wonderful affinity for one another. This is a long time favorite Lamb and Lentil Stew. It is very simple and I've been making it since I was a teenager.