The plight of the humble lentil

Starting with the mise, as soup ain't the most photogenic of foods...

Try as hard as I might, I have a hard time spreading my enthusiasm for legumes around.  I just love beans--baked, in soups, instead of meat, added to salads, mashed up...any way, really as long as the way ends in my belly.  Plus, they're so good for you--a great source of lean protein, lots of vitamins...probably.  And versatile!  You can do anything with a bean!

Lest you think my legume enthusiasm is overwhelming my sanity, I know that beans aren't the most exciting of all the food groups. They can be mushy, mealy and bland.  Even baked beans, a pretty much universally appreciated bean dish, can be overly sweet, soupy, and just plain bad.  Refried beans can be meaty, salty, rich and deeply flavored on the good end, but sticky, greasy, and downright disgusting when they're bad.  I guess bean preparations are as varied as the bean itself...

Garlic and the debris--kale stems, carrot tops, onion skins. 

I don't know about you, but I have a hard time sticking to my healthy guns when the weekend rolls around.  During the week, it's easy to say no to a second helping, hold the cheese/dressing/mayo, and reach for fruit instead of salty chips.  But once the weekend rolls around, all bets are off, and the only thing that can satisfy me is deep-fried or cheese covered.  Why does this happen?  Some strange atmospheric phenomenon I don't know about...?

This weekend was really no exception.  Cupcakes were baked for a birthday, sliders and cheese sauce were made on a whim, and a pizza was ordered far later than necessary.  So when Sunday night rolled around, the guilt trip was already building from the weekend's fat fest, and I knew something a little more healthful was in order.  Cue the beans--Lentil Soup, to be precise!

Judge not a soup by its darkly lit photo, but by the taste of the bowl. Mmmm. 

I did start with a recipe (torn from my Food Network Magazine, a gift from my lovely Aunt L!!!) for Spicy Lentil Soup with Greek Yogurt...but after looking in my fridge and finding not enough lentils in the cupboard, I knew I'd have to forge ahead on my own and revise as I went.  No problem.

The original recipe called for basically dumping everything in a pot and boiling away, but knowing the potential blandness of the bean (and A's aversion to a can of Lentil Soup that's been purposefully ignored in the cupboard for months) to build more flavor right off the bat. Especially since the soup called just for water, not stock, in creating the broth--another potential flavor-sucker.  Instead, I started by rendering some bacon in a large pot (yes, I realize it's strange to start a supposedly healthy recipe with bacon fat....).  Just a couple sliced.  I then added all my veggies to soften, then threw in the spices of garlic, ginger, curry.  Mmmm, smelling good already.  After they became fragrant, in went the lentils and water, which after simmering for 30 minutes melded into a deeply flavored---and veggie-filled--bowl of dinner.

Since I simply cannot eat a meal without a starch, I pulled out the last of the artisan bread batch and heated a skillet for naan, a perfect dipper for soup.  You roll out thin circles, butter a cast-iron skillet, and steam-fry them (covered) for a few minutes per side.  They get puffy, tender, and, yes, just a bit buttery, but the texture is where it's at for me--doughy in a good way, soft and pliant.  Naan, where would I be without you.

Pretend I had remembered to take a "cooked" photo and that this is ready to eat...

Recipe for soup after the jump.  Naan....

Spicy Lentil & Kale Soup

Serves 4-6

1 tsp olive oil

3 strips bacon, chopped

1 medium onion, finely chopped

2 cups roughly chopped kale

2 carrots, chopped

1 serrano chile pepper, seeded and finely chopped

1 large tomato, chopped

3 cloves garlic, finely chopped

1 Tbsp minced ginger

1 Tbsp curry powder

1/4 tsp red pepper flakes

1.5 cups lentils

7 cups water

S&P

1.  Heat oil in large soup pot over medium flame; add bacon and cook until crispy and fat is rendered, 10 minutes.  Remove and reserve for another use.

2. Add onion, kale, carrot, and chile to pot; cook until starting to soften, 5 minutes.  Add tomato, garlic, ginger, curry and red pepper; cook until fragrant, another 2-3 minutes.  

3.  Add lentils, water and 2 tsp salt to pot; increase heat to med-high and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat and simmer 20 minutes or until lentils are softened and soup is slightly thickened.  Optional: you could probably use a blender to puree all or part of the soup to thicken it further or to make it a homogenized soup, like many versions of lentil soup are.  I prefer it chunky, but to each their own!

4.  If you want, squeeze a lemon slice over the top, or top with chive yogurt like we did: mix 2 Tbsp minced chives with a container of 2% Greek yogurt; season with S&P.  The yogurt melts into the soup and carries the tang with it, really enriching the whole experience...