« A Case of Mistaken Vegetable Identity, Part 2 | Main | Okra and Shrimp Stew »
March 18, 2006
Lentil, Mushroom, and Spinach Soup
I came up with this recipe to use up some stuff that I had in the fridge. I had a half a bunch of spinach left over from making the salad, and I had 8 oz. of sliced mushrooms that I'd intended to put in said salad before the salad took a turn in another direction. I also had some fresh thyme.
My first taste of this soup made me say, "Wow!" It is amazingly rich and hearty tasting, even more so than most lentil soups I've had. I'm not sure if the key is the red wine, or the mushroom bouillon that I used, or what, but it's good. And completely vegan. (Well, if your wine is vegan. I didn't check mine.)
The Ingredients
- ~1 Tbsp. of olive oil
- 1 onion, diced
- 1 large carrot, sliced
- 1 large stalk celery, chopped
- 8 oz. mushrooms, sliced (I used ordinary white mushrooms, but the soup certainly wouldn't be hurt by anything more exotic)
- 1/2 bunch baby spinach, washed (Next time I'll probably use a whole bunch. More spinach wouldn't hurt.)
- 1 cup brown lentils, washed and picked over
- 5 cloves of garlic, peeled and thinly sliced
- 4-5 sprigs fresh thyme
- ~1 Tbsp dried herbes de Provence
- 3/4 cup red wine
- 6 cups vegetable broth (I used reconstituted Harvest brand mushroom-flavored vegetarian bouillon, which is flavored with shiitake mushrooms. Purchased at 99 Ranch.)
The Steps
- Heat the oil in a soup pot over medium-high heat. Add the onion, carrot, celery, and garlic and cook, stirring, for about 5 minutes, or until the onion starts to get translucent.
- Add the mushrooms, and cook another 5 minutes or so, until the mushrooms start to get tender.
- Add the red wine, and cook until it's reduced down considerably. (By at least half, I'd say, maybe a bit more.)
- Add the broth, lentils, and herbes de Provence. Strip the leaves off the fresh thyme sprigs and drop them into the pot (the leaves, not the stems). (Alternatively, you could just toss in the whole sprigs, and fish them out again before serving, but I like having the thyme leaves in the soup.)
- Bring the pot to a slow boil, and cook for 20 to 30 minutes (or longer), depending on how long it takes the lentils to be done.
- About 5 minutes before the lentils are done, stir in the spinach.
- Just before serving, taste and add freshly ground pepper and/or salt (salt probably not necessary if you used reconstituted bouillon) to taste.
Posted by spaceling at March 18, 2006 09:16 AM
Trackback Pings
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.danielstarr.com/movabletype/mt-tb.cgi/80
Comments
Post a comment
Thanks for signing in, . Now you can comment. (sign out)
(If you haven't left a comment here before, you may need to be approved by the site owner before your comment will appear. Until then, it won't appear on the entry. Thanks for waiting.)