I know for some of you the weather is getting a bit too warm for a soup like this, but I wanted to sneak it in before the summer. It is one of my favorite soups. It has tons of fiber, tons of vegetables, and tons of flavor. I make it, freeze it, and then anytime I want to feel good about what I eat, I pull a bowl of it out my freezer and heat it up for lunch.Though I changed this recipe so much that it is definitely my own now, my inspiration came from a book my friend Shannon gave me. It’s by America’s Test Kitchen and is called. It’s a fantastic cookbook, and I would recommend it for anyone who is a serious cook. My starting point for this lentil soup was their “hearty lentil soup.” I switched mine to vegetarian, and changed some other things around, but I couldn’t have made this good of a soup without the book.Oh, and I just want to briefly mention that the toast in the picture there is from the same baguette I froze a couple weeks ago. All I did was pop the frozen pieces in the toaster.
lentil soup
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 large onion, chopped
- 1 teaspoon salt, plus a large pinch
- 5-6 large carrots, peeled (if not organic), and sliced into 1/4 inch pieces
- 3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
- 3-4 sprigs fresh thyme
- 1 14 ounce (400g) can diced fire roasted tomatoes
- 1 cup (100g) lentils, rinsed and picked over
- 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1/2 cup (118mL) white wine or grape juice, whatever you have
- 4 cups (950mL) vegetable or chicken stock
- 1 cup (236mL) water
- 1 1/2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar
- 3-4 tablespoons flat leaf parsley, chopped