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My lentil soup recipe - got half a day free?

kenny

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30 years ago I made my first lentil soup, just following the recipe on the bag of lentils.
I've been tweaking it since then, but never bothered to measure or write anything down.
A friend tasted it and wanted the recipe so when I made it last night I finally measured and wrote it all down.

It is a lot of work, but maybe you'll like it.
Cheap and healthy I usually have some in my freezer.

Kenny’s Lentil Soup
Rinse 2 cups regular brown lentils in a strainer, put in a very large pot
Pour in two 32 oz boxes of Trader Joe’s organic beef broth, AND 32 oz water
Add 3 large bay leaves
Soak in fridge several hours to overnight

Start by adding no salt since beef broth, toms, and chicken drippings have salt

Chop and add to pot:
10 oz of shallots, or one very large brown onion
The leafy tops and the entire center of a celery, save green outer stalks for later
1 lb fresh tomatoes
14 oz red potatoes, leave skin on, 3/4” cubes
3 Tbs Costco minced garlic
1 Tbs brown sugar
1 Tbs freshly ground pepper
(all herbs are dried and ground)
1 Tbs rosemary
1 Tbs oregano
2 tsp sage
2 tsp thyme
1 tsp Stubb’s smoke sauce
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

I often buy Costco's rotisserie chicken, then right when bringing it home while still hot, I pour out the drippings on the bottom of the tray, refrigerate it at least a day
When using it I discard the fat on the top
It's chock full of flavor much like bullion cubes or stock. :lickout:
If you’ve saved it add those drippings
One ham hock, at four places around it I use sharp knife or razor to score completely through the skin
1 lb of Costco Master Carved Half Ham cut into cubes, strips, or triangles

Bring to boil, reduce heat to a very slow simmer, just barely simmering to prevent soup burning and sticking to the bottom, cover
Stir, and scrape bottom of pot with a metal spatula, every 15 minutes for 2 to 3 hours

40 minutes before done add:
1 cup of uncooked short grain brown rice or barley

25 minutes before done add 2 large carrots sliced 1/2” long at thick part and 2” long at thin part

15 before done, remove ham hock with tongs, cool with fan 10 min, discard skin, bone and fat, return good meat to soup

10 minutes before done add:
the 3 biggest greenest celery stalks, sliced 1” long at root end, and 2” at leaf end
one bunch of chopped fresh parsley, stems included
1 Tbs ground coriander

When done turn off heat and add:
1 Tbs lemon juice, stir well before adding ...
1/2 cup half & half
More of anything above, to taste, and I add another quart of water to get a soup, not a stew.
Adding this water last helps reduce cooling time.

Cooling in the large pot down to room temp takes too long, which allows food born pathogens to build up.
... and putting a whole pot of soup at high temp into fridge may harm your fridge, and may lower temp to unsafe to an unsafe level for the other food in there.
Though it's more to wash, I cool soup faster by transferring it to my two largest flat baking dishes, placed on cooling racks to let airflow underneath.
Then I use a small fan to cool to room temp faster, then move it to a large container for refrigeration.

It freezes well, though the carrots may get a bit mealy, so you might want to leave them out if that bugs you.
I put single servings in zip lock bags, squeezing out air before sealing, then freeze it.
It makes a zillion healthy quick meals to grab and microwave.
 
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dk168

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My kind of lentil soup as it has cream in it! :bigsmile:

Definitely a recipe for bulk/batch cooking as it is a lot of work!

Thanks for sharing!

DK :))
 

kenny

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thanks dk168, but ..........

I wrote, " and putting a whole pot of soup at high temp into fridge may harm your fridge, and may lower temp to unsafe to an unsafe level for the other food in there."

I should have written raise the temp, not lower it. :doh:

Opps, Duh.
 
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canuk-gal

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Hello:

Um yum. Are you my Mother?

cheers--Sharon
 

kenny

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canuk-gal

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dlfkgjfd


No, but we might wear the same pumps and pearls. :lol:

I hope to inherit Mom's pearls, but her feet are larger than mine. Can I send then to you?:P2
 

kenny

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I hope to inherit Mom's pearls, but her feet are larger than mine. Can I send then to you?:P2

Sweetie, I love you dearly but I don't want your dead mother's feet.
Please don't take this personally.
 

canuk-gal

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Sweetie, I love you dearly but I don't want your dead mother's feet.
Please don't take this personally.

:lol:Good decision. Shoes are very personal.:bigsmile:
 

Snowdrop13

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Lentil soup (as it’s made in Scotland) has ham in it and definitely no tomatoes!
 

kenny

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telephone89

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I wonder if this would translate to a pressure cooker? Sounds delicious
 

missy

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Oh this brings back such happy and yummy memories. My mom used to make me soup from scratch. Always delicious and hearty and to this day I love having a hearty thick soup as a meal. My dh took over for her but it has been over a year since he made soup for me. It’s time consuming indeed and life has been getting in the way of soup making as life often tends to do...
 

MamaBee

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Yummmy! It sounds delicious!
 

stracci2000

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This sounds delicious, Kenny! I love lentils!
Thanks for sharing.
My own recipe is much less involved.
 

Daisys and Diamonds

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I might just try this in the winter Kenny
Would it be ok to use red lentils ?
 

kenny

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I might just try this in the winter Kenny
Would it be ok to use red lentils ?

Never tried, but experimenting is the future of everything.
If you make it lemme know how it is.

Once, I did try French green lentils, and it was more refined, lovely actually.
But, for me, the hearty huskiness of old-school regular brown lentils IMO fits with the whole feeling of the recipe.

On reason I love cooking is because there is no right or wrong, just different, just personal preference.
 

VRBeauty

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I LOVE lentil soups of all kinds. I usually make it last minute though, almost on impulse - so I’ve thought about soaking the lentils overnight, but never actually done it. Going to have to give this a try! As a general rule I’d probably make it with a sliced smoked sausage added late in the game rather than the ham hocks, though - both because I like smoked sausage, and because I’m lazy that way.

Thank you,Kenny - for meticulously refining your recipe and for sharing it with us.


I might just try this in the winter Kenny
Would it be ok to use red lentils ?

Not to thread- interrupt, but here’s a wonderful red lentil soup recipe we’ve been enjoying for awhile now... It’s vegan, but I usually make it with chicken stock and add some sliced sausage. (Add the sausage just in the last ten minutes or so. If you let the sausage simmer in the soup for too long, you’ll end up with a delicious soup with flavorless sausage.)

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/projects/well/healthy-recipes/recipes/red-lentil-soup
 

Daisys and Diamonds

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Thank you @VRBeauty
I'll definatly try that too this winter
Im a big fan of adding meat to vegatarian dishes
Im the loon who orders vegetarian pizza with pepperoni!

I will have to remember to put the sussages in near the end

Getting back to Kenny's soup our cats won't be very happy because they call dibbs on those drippings in the bottom of the rotisserie chicken !
 

kenny

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Thank you @VRBeauty
Im the loon who orders vegetarian pizza with pepperoni!

Loon here too. :wavey:

We're lucky enough to live walking distance to an awesome independent mom&pop pizzeria with the best vege pizza.
Gobs and gobs of high quality real cheese though, and high-end veges like artichoke hearts, asparagus, and portobello mushrooms - everything super fresh.
Way worth the $50 for a 24" with added not-too-vegetarian sausage and pepperoni. :lickout::lickout::lickout:
I eat one piece and vacuum-seal and freeze the rest - lasts long time.

But, a vege pizza with cheese and meat? :-o
:naughty: Naughty Naughty. :naughty:
So sue us. :lol-2:
 
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