Vegetable Lentil Soup
Recipe taken from Smitten Kitchen
Ingredients:
1/2 cup olive oil
1 medium onion, diced
2 celery ribs, sliced or diced
2 medium carrots, peeled and sliced into half-moons or diced
4 cloves garlic, sliced
Kosher salt
A pinch of crushed red pepper flakes (optional)
1 cup brown lentils, sorted and rinsed
2 bay leaves
1 28-ounce can crushed tomatoes
6 cups water
Freshly ground black pepper
3 to 4 cups shredded or thinly ribboned Swiss chard leaves or kale
Grated Pecorino Romano cheese to finish (optional)
Steps:
Dice and slice garlic, onions, celery and carrots
Heat 1/4 cup olive oil in a large pot on medium to medium-high heat. When hot, add the onion, celery, carrots, first two garlic cloves, a pinch of salt, and if you like your soup spicy, a pinch of red pepper flakes.
Cook until the vegetables soften a bit (another 5 minutes), then add the lentils, bay leaves, tomatoes, water (6 cups is, conveniently, a little less than 2 empty 28-ounce cans, so you can get any tomato pulp you missed), more salt and black pepper to taste. Bring to a simmer and allow to cook until the lentils are tender, about 40 minutes. (It might be necessary to add more water if the soup gets too thick, though we preferred ours on the thick side.)
When the lentils are cooked, add the chard and cook until the leaves are tender, just a few minutes more. Discard the bay leaves.
Add grated Pecorino Romano cheese in soup to finish (optional)
