I love lentil soup! It is a comfort food for me. When we were living in NY, less than a block away was a Greek restaurant that made the best lentil soup I have ever had. Whenever I was feeling low I would treat myself to a cup – yum!
I have been experimenting with different recipes and I like this one because of the bacon, but I still think it needs something else – experimenting will continue on!
You should really soak your lentils at least overnight – which I did with some vinegar in the water, but for some reason this batch of lentils just did not want to cook – I ended up simmering the soup 2 hours longer than the recipe called for – maybe it was a change in the weather system here – not sure.
Lentil Soup (serves 8 – 10)
Ingredients
2 cups dried lentils
1 Tbl apple cider vinegar
8 cups water (for soup)
2 slices bacon, diced
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup chopped celery
1/2 cup chopped carrots
2 gloves garlic, minced
2 1/2 tsp sea salt
1/4 tsp ground pepper
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1 (16 oz.) can diced tomatoes
2 Tbl wine vinegar
Note: This recipe called for bacon diced – because of the wording, I diced uncooked bacon figuring that it would cook with all the simmering. The bacon bits are good in the soup, but next time I would cook the bacon (not to crispy), crumble it into the soup along with the bacon fat to add more flavor.
1. Place the lentils in a large bowl and cover with at least 4 cups of water, add the apple cider vinegar. Cover and let soak for at least 12 hours.
2. Rinse the lentils and place in a large soup pot.
3. Add the water, bacon, carrots, onion, celery, garlic, salt, pepper, and oregano. Cover and simmer for 1 1/2 hours.
4. Add the diced tomatoes and the juice, along with the vinegar, cover and simmer for another 30 minutes.
5. Season to taste.
Serve with some nice bread and you have a wonderful meal. Stella is just coming into soup and last year I found that I needed to puree all the soups I made for her – this year, so far she has enjoyed all the soup I have made! This one was a hit with her especially with some toasted sourdough bread!
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I too have soaked lentils and had them not get soft. Here’s my “go to” recipe for lentil soup…cook 1-2 onions and 4 cloves garlic in olive oil. Add 1 large can peeled tomatoes and 1 1/2 cups lentils. Cover with water, bring to boil, cover and simmer gently for 1 hour. Adding cooked bacon sounds good. (I like that your recipe calls for celery and carrots.)
I will have to keep that recipe on hand – thanks!