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Health & Fitness

A Soup Fit for Snow Kings and Queens: Caviar Lentil Soup

Black lentils simmered in chicken broth, bacon, vegetables and a variety of Indian spices. A perfect soup for a blistery, snowy and bright day.

Well, we certainly found Nemo out here in Connecticut.  One and a half feet of him.

Snowed in and no where to go, I opened up my cupboards and went shopping for some ingredients for soup on this blistery and bright day.  I wound up making this Caviar Lentil Soup.

I have to admit that I really love calling this Caviar Lentil Soup because it sounds so much more extravagant and fanciful than just black lentil soup.  Having said that, this is truly a soup that is fit for kings and queens of snowy days.

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I simmered the lentils with onions, celery, carrots, tomatoes and a variety of Indian spices, which were given to me as a birthday present by my sister-in-law.  And in honor of the gift giver of the tasty spices, some bacon served as a rich backbone.  At the end, some spinach, a little butter and salt went into the mix as well.  It was a perfect soup to enjoy after some morning snow galavanting that involved climbing large snow drifts and making snow angels.

I will most certainly be making this again because it was not only incredibly easy to make, it was a delicious, rich, and satisfying main course luncheon soup.  The only thing I might do on round #2 is double the aleppo pepper to give it just a little more heat.  But I leave that decision to you.

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Caviar Lentil Soup

Author: Julie du Pont

Recipe type: Soup

Prep time:  5 mins

Cook time:  1 hour 30 mins

Total time:  1 hour 35 mins

Serves: 6-8 

 

Ingredients

  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 4 slices of bacon, chopped
  • 2 celery stalks, chopped
  • 2 medium carrots, chopped
  • 1 yellow onion, chopped
  • 2 garlic cloves, minced
  • ½ tsp cumin
  • ½ tsp ground coriander
  • ¼ tsp to ½ tsp ground aleppo pepper
  • ¼ tsp garam masala
  • 2 quarts chicken stock
  • 1 cup black lentils
  • 1 cup chopped plum or grape tomatoes
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 1 tbsp butter
  • 4 cups spinach
  • Sea Salt to taste

 

Instructions

  1. Heat oil in large dutch oven. Add bacon and cook until it begins to brown and render fat, above 5 minutes.
  2. Add celery, carrots, onions and garlic to the pan and added additional olive oil if needed to avoid burning. Saute for 5-7 minutes until softened.
  3. Add cumin, coriander, aleppo pepper and garam masala and stir until fragrant, about 3 minutes.
  4. Add in chicken stock, black lentils, chopped tomatoes and a bay leaf and bring to a boil.
  5. Reduce to simmer and let cook for an hour to an hour and 10 minutes, until lentils are soft.
  6. Add in spinach, butter and salt and cook until spinach is wilted and butter is evenly distributed, about 5 minutes.

 

Julie du Pont is a Darien resident, mom and lawyer.  She blogs about food and entertaining at weekend table

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