Onion Lentil Soup

It's been a busy week.  We are getting our oldest son ready to go out on a two year adventure, and there has been a flurry of purchasing, packing, mending, and assorted appointments in the last few weeks.  You probably have those busy times, too.  Times when even regular home chores seem to take a back seat to cannot-be-missed events (and preparation for those events).  The laundry gets backed up (and that's a whole lot of laundry at our house!), everything but the most basic necessities go by the wayside, and meals get simplified down to menu items that take very little prep time to put together.

It's times like these that I really, really remember how much I like soups and stews.  Twenty minutes of chopping and opening of cans--and that's about it.  It may take an hour of simmering spread cut into two or three bits, but then you can squeeze in another load of laundry.  (Yeah... because that's really what you are going to do with an extra half hour away from the stove, eh?  Wink, wink, nudge, nudge.) The fact that lentils are in this soup is just an added bonus.  All of that good protein, fiber, and vitamins... yeah!


No, I am not on a lentil kick, though it may look like it.  We actually made two other soups this week, including an old favorite (Broccoli, Chicken, & Cheese), but it was another lentil soup recipe from Heidi Swanson that got a seven thumbs up from the family that I thought I'd write about.  The recipe was for Red Lentil Soup, and as usual, I made a few changes, though you are certainly welcome to go back to the original and use the recipe "as is."

The main difference between this soup and the other Coconut Red Lentil Soup recipe that I posted earlier is the flavor.  The other soup was a curry/Indian flavored dish and this one tasted... well, oniony.  Very oniony.  I am not entirely sure, in fact, what the point of having both shallots and onions in the original recipe was, because all you could taste was the onions and the lentils.  But still, Yum!  What I liked about Heidi's recipe was the idea of making a fairly basic tasting base and then adding toppings for little bursts of additional flavor--a great use for the leftovers that you have in the fridge or pantry.  I also liked that it went together fairly easily and used inexpensive ingredients.

I'm a big fan of making the recipe exactly the way that it was originally written the first time, if possible, so that you can better judge what changes you want to make on future tries.  So after I made this soup this week, I made a couple of changes to the original recipe.  First, while extra virgin olive oil (evoo) has better flavor and is healthier for you, cost-wise it's far more expensive than regular cooking oil, so use what you want guilt free from whatever the other camp says about the health/flavor vs. cost debate.  All you need is something to saute some onions in.  Second, seriously, you can't taste the more subtle flavor of the shallots over a full large yellow onion, so I swapped them for another 1/2 onion.  Third, if you aren't vegetarian, any broth or water will do for your liquid.  I thought the vegetable broth was terrific, but I am sure that chicken or beef would do, as well.  As I said in the discussion of the previous recipe, there is very little difference, flavor-wise between red and brown lentils, so use whatever color you want or have on hand. 

I thought that the feta cheese really had a nice, sharp contrast with the oniony lentils.  It really made the dish pop.  That said, most children don't like its strong flavor and may prefer another cheese or some other topping instead.  As I said above, this got seven full thumbs up.  Even the picky eater said that this was GREAT! 

Onion Lentil Soup -- Serves 4 (particularly if they are teenage boys going back for seconds)

2 tablespoons oil or butter
1 1/2 onions, chopped
1/2 teaspoon red-pepper flakes
6 cups broth or water (I used mostly vegetable broth with a little chicken broth when I ran short.)
1 1/3 cup lentils, picked over and rinsed
1/2 cup brown rice, picked over and rinsed
salt, to taste (my broth had salt in it, so I didn't use any)

Topping ideas:

toasted slivered almonds, chopped avocado, or chopped anything really
black olives, crumbled feta, other cheese, or sour cream

Drizzle the oil or melt the butter in a large pot and add the onions and red pepper flakes, cooking on medium heat until the onions are wilted and slightly caramelized, about 10 minutes. Stir in the broth, bring to a boil, and add the lentils and rice. (Don't forget to pick through the lentils before adding to look for small pebble and debris.)  Cover and simmer for about half an hour, or until the rice is as tender as you like.  (Probably no more than 20 minutes should be added to the cooking the cooking time, though, unless you like your rice mushy.)  Add more water or broth as necessary to give the soup the consistency you prefer.  (When the lentils cook down, you can have anything between a thick mush and a thin soup depending on how much liquid you add.)  Add as much salt as you desire, keeping in mind that if your broth has a high sodium content you may not need much at all.
Serve with the toppings of your choice.