Connoisseur Tom's Sausage & Lentil Soup

In my recent bout with unemployment, I found myself doing a lot more cooking from scratch, and in my search for ever cheaper meals, I discovered a legume that I have, until recently, wholly ignored: the humble lentil.

I cannot get over how quick and easy dried lentils are to cook, and they bring a lot of versatility to the party was well. I did some online research and, after wading waist-deep through hippie and vegan compost, I discovered a dish that I could not only make, but more importantly, keep down.

To make Connoisseur Tom’s Sausage and Lentil Soup you will need:

1 pound lentils (rinsed and picked of stones and broken/fugly specimens)

1 pound hot Italian sausage (removed from the casing)

1 large Onion (diced)

5 cloves garlic (crushed)

3 carrots (peeled)

5 ribs celery (chopped)

3 large or 6 small potatoes (peeled and chopped)

1 qt beef, turkey, or chicken broth

1 qt water

1 tbsp red chili flake

3 bay leaves

2 tsp oregano

Salt and pepper

In a cast iron Dutch oven, sweat the veggies over medium-low heat in a couple tablespoons of olive oil

until they get soft and pick up a little color.

While the vegetables do their thing, in a separate frying pan, cook up the sausage until just done.

Pour the contents of the frying pan over the vegetables and stir.

At this point, add in the lentils, spices, broth, and water. Cook covered on medium heat for 45 minutes.

Using a ladle, transfer ½ of the soup to a blender (you’ll want to work in batches to avoid wearing the soup, so have a big bowl handy to transfer the blended soup into) and puree for 30 seconds or so. Combine the blended soup back in to the unblended and stir to thicken the whole shebang.

The end result isn’t the prettiest thing in the world, but it is one of the tastiest soups I’ve had all year. To dress this soup up, especially the next day, I recommend a tablespoon or two of white wine vinegar floated on the top of your individual bowlful. It really ties everything together and wakes up the flavors.

Happy lentiling!