Lentil, split pea and barley soup with smoked turkey

Winter is at our doorstep, and with it comes days like today when the only reasonable thing to make is a huge pot of soup.  Here's my recipe for a delicious hearty soup.  You can easily make this vegetarian by omitting the smoked turkey wings.

1 Tbs. olive oil

1 C. diced onion

1 C. diced carrots

1 C. diced celery

1 tbs. kosher salt or smoked fleur de sel

1 tsp. black pepper

1 tbs. Italian seasoning

72 oz. chicken stock

1/3 C. each- barley, lentils and split peas, rinsed

16 oz. can diced tomatoes with herbs

2 bay leaves

2 smoked turkey wings

Optional- rind of Parmesan cheese

Heat olive oil on medium high heat in a large soup pot.  Add onion, carrots and celery.  Saute for 2 minutes, add remaining ingredients (including rind) and stir to combine.  Cover and simmer on medium low heat for at least an hour before serving.  

Lentil, brown rice soup with turkey kielbasa... Perfect for the rainy weather.

The kids are (finally) back in school and like clockwork, the weather has turned cool and rainy. Today was the perfect day to make a large pot of soup. This is one of my favorite soups to make, and the addition of turkey kielbasa is a great addition. Feel free to omit it for a hearty vegetarian soup.

1 Tbs. olive oil
1/2 C. diced onion
2 C. sliced turkey kielbasa
2 cubes frozen garlic
1 C. rinsed lentils
1 C. uncooked brown rice
20 oz. diced tomatoes with juice
56 oz. chicken or vegetable stock
1 Tbs. balsamic vinegar
1 Tbs. each kosher salt, pepper and Italian seasoning
1 bay leaf
2 chopped carrots
3 stalks celery, chopped

Heat olive oil in a large dutch oven with a lid on medium high heat. Add onion and kielbasa and saute for 4-5 minutes until kielbasa begins to turn golden brown. Add garlic, lentils and brown rice. Stir to combine and add remaining ingredients. Cover and reduce heat to medium low. Cook for 45 minutes. If soup looks too thick, add more stock, taste and add more salt or pepper as needed.

Ham and white bean soup with lentils

I have a beautiful ham bone leftover and wanted to make soup today. The weather has been cold and lousy here and soup always warms the house. Most soups are fairly simple to make, but this one in particular is so easy.

Here's my recipe for ham and white bean soup with lentils:

1 diced onion
1 C. each-chopped carrot and celery
1 Tbs. olive oil
1 ham bone (if you don't have a ham bone, use a couple ham hocks)
2 cans white beans
5 C. (40 oz.) chicken stock
1/2 C. rinsed lentils
large pinch of each-salt and pepper
1 bay leaf

Saute onion, carrots and celery in olive oil for 2-3 minutes in a large soup pot. Add ham bone, white beans and chicken stock. Stir to combine, add lentils, salt, pepper and bay leaf. Reduce heat to medium low, cover and cook for at least an hour. If cooking longer, reduce heat and simmer until ready to eat.

Back to School Dinner- lentil soup with turkey

The kids start the new school year tomorrow, and I don't know who's more excited!

The weather is definitely feeling fall-like so I decided to make lentil soup.

It's an easy soup to make, but takes at least a couple hours to cook. This soup can certainly be made vegetarian by omitting the smoked turkey wings. We use our Vidalia Chop Wizard to cut all of the vegetables. It takes no time and cuts everything so evenly, the kids love to help chop too.

1 whole onion diced
2 cubes frozen garlic
2 tbs. olive oil
1 C. shredded or finely diced carrots
1 C. finely diced celery
1 finely diced potato
2 smoked (or regular) turkey wings
1C. finely diced mushrooms
10 oz. petit diced canned tomatoes
1 1/2 C. uncooked lentils
7 c. chicken stock
2 bay leaves
1 Tbs. kosher salt
1 Tbs. celery salt (or the smoked fleur de sel from Whole Foods)
1 Tsp. ground black pepper
1 Parmesan rind

In a large soup pot on high heat, add onion, garlic and olive oil. Saute for 1 minute until garlic begins to melt. Add carrots, celery and potato and stir to combine. Add the turkey wings, mushrooms and tomatoes with their juices and stir again to combine. Next add in lentils, chicken stock, bay leaves, salt and black pepper. Stock should cover all of the ingredients. Add more or less stock as needed.

Cover and let cook for 1 hour on medium heat. The soup should be softly boiling. After 1 hour, add in Parmesan rind and cook for at least 1 more hour, stirring occasionally.

Before serving, remove turkey meat from the bones and add back into the soup. Be sure to remove the bay leaves before serving.

We all enjoyed the soup with a few slices of fresh baguette and a plate of sliced melon.

Give it a try, you wont' be disappointed!

Lentil dal

It was a pretty gray Sunday, but nice because we were all happy to hang out in the house. I made another pot of split pea soup and I had bought some lentils from Kalustyan's a while ago that I wanted to cook.

I love Indian food, but don't make it too often, as I don't have a lot of the spices and quite frankly, am a little intimidated by it.

I made a basic Dal, (which is cooked lentils) by first rinsing 2 cups of lentils in water. In a shallow pan with a lid, I toasted 1/2 C. mustard seeds in a teaspoon of olive oil until they began to pop open, about 1 minute. When they began to pop (you can hear them), I removed the pan from the heat, drained the lentils, and added them to the pot. I covered them with about 2 inches of water and brought them to a boil. I added in a diced onion,2 cubes each of frozen garlic, ginger and cilantro, a teaspoon of turmeric and cumin, a large teaspoon of spicy curry paste, and a pinch of salt.

I cooked the lentils covered on low heat for about 30 minutes, then threw in 1 C. of golden raisins. Most recipes say to add in 1 C. diced tomatoes, but I didn't have any, so I didn't!

I added in a little more water (about 1 C.) and continued cooking the lentils until they became soft, another 20 minutes. I cooked some rice and we enjoyed a plate of dal, rice and split pea soup.

The girls ate the last little bit of honey hoisin chicken, rice, and split pea soup. My friend brought a wonderful loaf of pear nut quick bread, I'll see if I can get the recipe.

Ribs, lentil soup and squash???

Tonight I am doing a book signing at the Darien Library and my husband was left in charge of dinner, at 4:20 he realized he had not (suprise, suprise) planned anything. He did his fallback dinner, Chinese take out.

Last night I made lentil soup which I didn't plan on giving the girls, assuming they wouldn't even touch it. They both ended up hungrily eating 2 bowls of it! I was pretty suprised as lentil soup isn't the most appealing looking soup. Anyhow, here's a good basic lentil soup recipe:

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup finely chopped onion
1/2 cup finely chopped carrot
1/2 cup finely chopped celery
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 pound lentils, picked and rinsed
1 cup peeled and chopped tomatoes
2 quarts chicken broth
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground toasted cumin

Place the olive oil into a large 6-quart Dutch oven and set over medium heat. Once hot, add the onion, carrot, celery and salt and sweat until the onions are translucent, approximately 6 to 7 minutes. Add the lentils, tomatoes, broth and cumin- stir to combine. Increase the heat to high and bring just to a boil. Reduce the heat to low, cover and cook at a low simmer until the lentils are tender, approximately 35 to 40 minutes. Using a stick blender, puree to your preferred consistency. Serve immediately.

I also made an amazing ravioli at work yesterday which I had to share.

Butternut squash and goat cheese ravioli:
Boil 1 peeled and sliced butternut squash in chicken stock until soft- about 20 minutes. Once a knife can be easily inserted into the squash, remove from heat, drain and mash with a masher or fork. Season with salt, pepper, a little bit of nutmeg and a handful of diced, sauteed shallots.

Wonton wrappers from the supermarket are the pasta for this dish. Lay out a bunch of wonton wrappers on a cutting board, and place a small (really small) amount of squash in the center of the wrapper, place an equally small amount of goat cheese atop the squash. Brush the edges of the wrapper with either water or a beaten egg. Lay another wrapper atop the other and make sure all sides are closed. Cook in boiling, salted water for 3-4 minutes and serve with melted butter and fresh sage leaves.