Vegetarian Lentil Soup

This recipe was adapted from The Joy of Cooking (1997 publication) Lentil Soup Recipe (page 104).

Ingredients
2 c lentils
2 carrots
2 onions
2 celery
1 zucchini
2 T diced garlic
olive oil
can of diced tomatoes
bay leaf, thyme, peppercorn
8 c water
balsamic vinegar (optional--could also use sherry, chicken stock, etc in which case substitute for some of the water)
turmeric, your favorite spices

Supplies
colander (for rinsing lentils)
pot
knife and cutting board
either string, or an empty tea bag

Dice the onions.

Chop the celery finely.

Dice the zucchini finely.

Dice the carrots.

Heat the olive oil in the soup pot.

Add all the vegetables and the garlic to the pot until they soften, which is before they brown.

While you wait for the veggies to look like this:

Sort the lentils to remove any rocks or bad looking legumes.  Rinse.

Add the can of diced tomatoes with their liquid to the pot of softened veggies.

 

Add the rinsed and strained lentils to the soup pot.

When adding the water, I like to rinse out the tomato can into the total water to get all the tomato juice out.

Measure the water and add it to the soup pot.

Put the bay leaf, 1 peppercorn, and dried or fresh time into a food safe bag of some kind.

I used an empty "fill-your-own" teabag.  The important thing is it should be food safe, contain the spices, and make them easy to remove, but still be permeable to liquid so that they can flavor the soup.  You can make a bouquet garni tied with string and just use ground pepper as well.

Bring the soup to a boil, turn down to a simmer, and cook until the lentils are tender, about 45 minutes.  Stir occasionally so that nothing sticks to the bottom and burns.  Feel free to add more water so it is to your desired "soupiness".  Before serving, remove the herb packet.

Add the balsamic vinegar, turmeric, and your favorite spices.

Ladle into a bowl and serve!

This soup freezes very well.  It also goes delicious with some kind of warm and hearty bread.  You can also add ham hocks or sausage for more flavor, at the beginning of the cooking process in place of the olive oil.