Sunday Soup

For many years, soups have been my go-to meal prep staple. My lab mates in graduate school can attest to this – as it was known that at lunch time, likely, I was heating up my soup (lentil, garbanzo, cannellini, etc.) and brown rice topped with something (anything) green (arugula, microgreens, spinach, etc.). Our quaint graduate student ‘suite’ in my neuromuscular exercise physiology lab was conveniently located in the kitchen – fitting I’d say, given my love for both exercise and … food.

Generally, my soup recipes all start with the same base. The ‘Holy Trinity’ in Italian cooking – a soffritto – onions, carrots, and celery. From there, you can embellish the recipe depending on your personal preferences and based on the type of soup you are making.

This week – Red Lentil Soup: a delicious, nutritious, and time-efficient bean (cooking fully in about an hour).

Ingredients

• One yellow onion

• Two stalks of celery

• Two medium carrots

• One medium sweet potato

• Red lentils (about 8 oz.)

• Italian seasoning (about 1-2 tbsp)

• Turmeric (about 1-2 tsp)

•  One medium tomato (or leftover spaghetti sauce – my personal preference)

• Salt to taste

• Water  

Steps

1. Heat a pot on the stove with a hearty covering of olive oil on the bottom of the pan (low to medium heat)

2. Dice the onion, celery, and carrots. Cube the sweet potato

   • Add the trio to the pot with the sweet potato and mix everything together

3. Rinse and then add the red lentils to the pot and cover the mixture with water

   • You will add additional water once the bean soaks it up while cooking

4. Add Italian seasoning, turmeric, and tomato sauce (wait on salt until the bean is cooked) – stir everything together

   • Adding salt too early can slow the cooking process so, I always add it at the end

5. Cover and let simmer at low to medium heat. Monitor about every 20 minutes, add water, and stir until the bean is cooked

   • Once cooked, add salt to taste

6. If you like a creamy soup (and I do), you can use an immersion blender to create a beautiful creamy texture

7. Enjoy! Serve with a side of brown rice and something (anything) green such as arugula or microgreens

I learned about soups from my dad (an excellent self-trained chef) – this was the foundation of all his soup recipes as well… although, I will likely spend a lifetime trying to master the craft in the way that he had.

Grazie e ti voglio bene, Pappa.