I realize most of you aren’t as judgmental as I. Most of you are perfectly happy to eat lentils. Most don’t automatically raise the red flags at the very mention of those little legumes.
I don’t know why I do. But doesn’t lentil just sound iffy?
Admittedly, I wasn’t entirely enthusiastic when Professor announced he was offering (because it was leftover night) Pasta Lentilese for dinner. Internally, I was looking for an escape. Begging for mercy.
So imagine my shock to find it was absolutely amazing. I already blogged about it, and I’ve made it a couple of times. Super good stuff and all food storage. And like I said in that article, I wouldn’t have even known the lentils weren’t hamburger if I wasn’t paying attention. I decided that maybe there might be some good that could come from lentils. So I should try another recipe or two.
I’m still not entirely persuaded that this is the case, and I fear that this soup I just made is going to disappoint. But some friends and I have just started a preparedness group and our first meeting is tomorrow. We’re meeting at lunchtime and are all committed to bringing something we made from food storage for the others to try out. I really wanted to make a dessert. There are plenty of other recipes I want to try, but they needed more prep time, something in short supply today as I prepare for our meeting at my house tomorrow.
So soup it is. I cut the number of servings in half in case we don’t really like it.
Lentil Veggie Soup
1 cup dry lentils
4 cups beef broth
½ cup chopped onions
1 clove garlic, minced
1/8 teaspoon black pepper
¼ cup celery, diced
1 cup chopped tomatoes
½ bay leaf
½ cup carrots, sliced
1 ½ tablespoons parsley
¼ teaspoon oregano
1 tablespoon distilled white vinegar
Rinse and drain lentils. Combine everything except vinegar in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Lower heat, cover, and simmer 2 hours, or until the lentils are tender.
Add the vinegar and simmer for 30 more minutes. Remove bay leaf before serving. Serves 4.
Chef’s review: It’s a soup. Very easy to put together. All food storage if you use fresh garden veggies or freeze-dried/dehydrated/canned versions.
Friends and family reviews: Aaron said it was ok, like maybe 3 or 3.5 stars. I’d have said 3 stars. Lentils just aren’t my thing, I guess. It’s not like there was anything bad. It was just entirely unremarkable. Then I served it to my preparedness group the next day. Both of the ladies attending our meeting enjoyed it. (Two others had something come up, so we started out with a very small group.) And they confessed that they do very much enjoy lentils. I also had some again and decided that it tasted ½ or maybe even ¾ of a star better.
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