There is no one lentil soup

Photo by Kody Dahl on Unsplash

The beauty of soup is that you can do almost anything you want to a recipe, and you’ll probably still end up with delicious soup.

Keep some dry lentils and a quart of broth in the pantry, and you’ll always be about an hour away from a nice meal. What kind of lentils? Doesn’t really matter (although red lentils cook fast and have a lovely color). What kind of broth? Doesn’t matter (and really you could get away with water).

By the way, this may look like a lot of steps and ingredients, but this is less of a recipe, and more of a technique. If you can internalize a lot of what’s here, you won’t ever need a recipe.

Ingredients

The Basics

• 1 cup dry lentils
• 1 quart broth
• aromatics: onions / carrots / celery (1–2 each)
• olive oil
• salt & pepper
• 2 cups of water
• maybe a cup or two of wine

From this point on, just about everything is optional, including the quantities. Mix and match.

Sort of French

• 2–4 garlic cloves
• 1–2 tablespoons tomato paste
• 1–2 teaspoons cumin
• a shake or two or three of cayenne
• juice from 1 or 2 lemons
• a handful of chopped flat parsley

Sort of Spanish

• 2–3 cloves garlic
• 2–3 small chorizo sausages
• 2–3 diced potatoes
• 1–2 diced peppers
• 1–2 teaspoons paprika
• a handful of chopped cilantro

Other meats and veggies

• 2–4 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar
• 1 bunch of heavy greens, like kale or collard greens
• 1/4 to 1/2 pounds ham or bacon or prosciutto
• 1–2 teaspoons of oregano
• a pinch or two of red pepper flakes

Also maybe?

• Got some leftover chickpeas? Throw them in.
• Maybe some potatoes? Dice them small and throw them in.
• Got some cream/buttermilk/sour cream looking for a home? Throw it in. (Be careful combining dairy with a lot of lemon juice though…)

Need it to look fancy?

• Fry up some fresh breadcrumbs or croutons in a bit of oil or butter
• Sriracha or some other hot sauce
• A drizzle of your best olive oil
• Toasted seeds or chopped nuts

Equipment

1. A 2-quart pot or dutch oven
2. A knife & cutting board
3. A wooden spoon
4. An immersion blender (or a food processor, or a regular blender)
5. A ladle

Prep

1. Chop up your aromatics, your onions and carrots and celery, into small pieces. Mince your garlic.
2. Cut up any meats or bigger vegetables into bite-size chunks. Slice any heavy greens (like kale) into thin strips.
3. Rinse your lentils, removing any stray debris.

Cook

1. If you’re using meats, cook them first. Stir occasionally for 4–5 minutes over medium-high, looking for the edges to start browning. Set the meat aside once all the pieces have some good browning on them. Save the fat. (If it looks like you have more than a few tablespoons, use a paper towel to soak up the extras.)
2. If you don’t have any meat to get you started, fat-wise, add a tablespoon or two of oil to your pot over medium-high heat. Get it shimmering but not smoking; anything you throw in should start sizzling right away.
3. Add aromatics (carrots, onions, peppers, etc), along with a big pinch of salt and pepper. Stir them often, until they soften, 4–5 minutes.
4. If using garlic, throw it in with a little more salt; stir it around for another minute or so. When you can smell the garlic, that’s good enough. (What you don’t want to do is burn the garlic — it gets super bitter. Err on the side of less time if you’re unsure.)
5. Add your spices and/or tomato paste. Stir them around until you can smell the herbs and the tomato paste has gone a bit darker; maybe a minute.
6. Add your lentils. If you‘re adding potatoes, now would be a good time.
7. Add your liquids (broth/water/wine/etc). Start by adding a big splash, and use that to deglaze the bottom of the pan, scraping up the brown bits stuck to the bottom with a wooden spoon. (Chefs call this the fond, and it contributes a ton of flavor.) Add the rest of the liquid and another pinch of salt and some pepper.
8. Stirring occasionally, bring everything up to a simmer so that it’s starting to bubble all over, then reduce the heat to medium low.
9. Now would be a good time to taste. Does it need salt? Probably. Should you add salt? Maybe. First consider what comes later — will you be adding adding salty meats, or reducing it for a thicker soup? If yes to either of those, maybe hold off on the salt for now.
10. Take a breath; have a drink; play a video game. How long you wait depends mainly on your lentils. You want at least 20 minutes or so, but it might be longer. Now would be a good time to taste again. Are your lentils as soft as you want them? Does it need more salt/pepper/spices?
11. Optionally, when your lentils are done, you can puree about half the soup — or all of it, for that matter — which thickens it quickly. An immersion blender is a the perfect tool here, or use a ladle to transfer the soup into a blender or food processor. (Please don’t burn yourself by letting it splash all over.) If you’re using potatoes, you could skip the blender and use a potato masher — a few moments of mashing will release a lot of potato starch.
12. If you don’t want to blend or mash, but you still want to thicken, uncover the pot and let it cook for 10 or so minutes more, until evaporation reduces things. (Bear in mind that reducing something concentrates its flavors; something that’s already salty might get too salty.)
13. Add any fresh greens you’re using — kale or fresh herbs. Taste.
14. Add lemon juice. Taste.
15. Ladle into bowls, garnish and serve.

You have probably just made a heck of a delicious soup.