BrainChocolate

Fact: Lentils are one of the most nutritionally perfect foods on earth. Very low fat, nearly perfect carbs to protein ratio, and tons of fiber.
Problem: I hate lentils.

Naturally, as the good little problem solver that I am, I wanted to find a way to eat lentils and actually enjoy it. My general philosophy of problem solving goes something like, “If I can’t do/learn/etc something, it’s just because I haven’t figured out how yet. So…figure it out.”

So here’s my lentil soup recipe–it’s a result of a few different recipes I found and a lot of tinkering and experimentation. This has been my staple food since October 2009. Add hours to your week by cooking for 40 minutes on Sunday and eat it for the whole week.

It’s super cheap (about $10) and will probably feed you for a solid week.

Questions?

Twitter: @NPSchmitt
Email: Nathan [at] brainchocolateblog [dot] com

Ingredients

One bag of green lentils, picked over and rinsed
1 medium-large onion, diced
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 28-ounce can crushed tomatoes
10 oz frozen spinach, kale, or collard greens (20 oz fresh)
16 oz ham or your favorite pre-cooked meat

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
Salt (pref. kosher)
Habanero powder (optional)
Greek yogurt (optional–stir a dollop into the soup after serving into your bowl)
1 poached egg per bowl of soup (optional)
Your favorite full-bodied red wine (optional but it adds good complexity. I use Malbec.)
2 cups water

Lentils: Rinse, pick over (remove rocks or any other small objects), and boil in water with a couple pinches of salt until reyhdrated–the same consistency you would normally eat beans (20-30 min).

Pour yourself a glass of wine.

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Dice the onion: The easiest, fastest way to do this is to cut the onion in half through the root, remove the peal, and make ~1 cm cuts horizontally (toward the root) and vertically (through to the board) as shown above. The purpose of the root is to hold the onion together for ease of dicing, so be sure not to cut all the way through on the first two sets of cuts. Finish by cutting across your first two axes as seen above. [Click the picture to enlarge it and inspect the onion if this doesn't make sense--it has the cross-cuts in it already.]

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Cut meat into small cubes (this is black forest ham from Trader Joe’s).

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Drain Lentils through colander and let them hang out there for a bit.

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Once oil is hot, sweat the onions with a large pinch of salt–stir occasionally to ensure even heat. Sweating means you bring the moisture out so if you see the onions start to brown, turn the heat down a little. The salt will help extract moisture from the onions so don’t skip out on that. You’re basically just sauteing but with lower heat.

Add the garlic and cook for a couple minutes, stirring occasionally.

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Push the onions to one side once they’re translucent (about 5 minutes).

Add ~1 tablespoon of olive oil then mix cumin into the oil. Temper the spices for about a minute then mix them in with everything else–this just brings out the flavor of the spices more than if you just mixed them into the soup.

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De-glaze the pot with about half a glass of your favorite full-bodied red wine: stir and cook for about a minute. (If you don’t have wine just skip this step)

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Add 2 cups of hot water, crushed tomatoes, and lentils. Cook for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.

After 10 minutes: add ham and habanero powder to taste (3/4 tsp for medium heat).

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Turn off heat, add greens, cover, and let sit for 10 minutes

Serve into bowl, add a dollop of Greek yogurt (I promise it’s amazing), a poached egg, break yolk  and eat.