Soups are excellent sides and main dishes in meals, and in fact are also supposed to be healthy to eat regularly because of greater ease of digestion, less loss of nutrients, and the liquid helps regulate food consumption for people who are trying to watch their weight. Fall is a great time to start expanding a soup repertoire because a hearty soup or stew makes for excellent comfort food and because fall vegetables like tomatoes, mushrooms, and squash have a pleasant earthy flavor that lend themselves well to aromatic and pungent spices like thyme, sage, and basil. I just got a crock pot from a neighbor, too, so I'm going to start working on recipes for that as well, once I get it cleaned up.
Today's specimen
I decided to give an easy lentil soup a whirl this time, something that was cheap, simple, and quick but also healthy and flavorful. Not all dishes require a mind-reeling muddle of components, techniques, and spices to be good. This is another Allrecipes.com recipe, kept at the original amount of eight servings:
Ingredients
- 2 cups dry lentils
- 2 quarts chicken broth
- 1 onion, diced
- 1/4 cup tomato paste
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tablespoon ground cumin
Directions
- In a large saucepan combine lentils, broth, onion, tomato paste, garlic and cumin. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat, cover and simmer until lentils are soft, 30 to 45 minutes. Serve with a squeeze of lemon.
Time to Experiment
I liked the way this recipe looked when I saw it, but I did do a couple things different:
- Added diced an additional half of an onion.
- Minced up another clove of garlic.
- I cooked the onion the pot in a tablespoon of olive oil until they were slightly transparent before I poured in the chicken broth and added the other ingredients to cook as the recipe instructed.
Next Time in the Lab
- Try it with two onions, up to maybe three-and-a-half or four cups diced.
- Reduce the cumin to 3/4 of a tablespoon to mellow the flavor a little for those with more delicate palates and stomachs.
