Hardy Lentil Soup

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Hardy Lentil Soup

When winter storms are in season and we crave warm, filling and healthy foods, one of my favourite “go to” is soup. With the increasing price of food, soups are a great way to reduce food waste. This hardy lentil soup recipe is inspired by a recipe found in one of my mother’s 1984 cookbook.

In this blog you will find:

  • Hardy lentil soup recipes and tips to adjust it with what you have available at home
  • List of local stores and websites to source ingredients locally.

Hardy Lentil Soup

lentil soup

Hardy Lentil Soup

This soup is simple yet delicious. It is filled with seasonal vegetables and small French lentils which cook a lot faster than the larger brown lentils. This soup is also great warmed up. I love making a large batch of this soup and freezing some for later.  

Ingredients

  • 1 cup French lentils
  • 1 branch celery diced
  • 1 onion diced
  • 2 carrots diced
  • 1 cup green cabage sliced
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 3 cloves garlic minced
  • 1 tbsp tomato paste
  • 1 tsp vegetable stock concentrate (or replace half the liquid with stock)
  • Salt & pepper
  • 4 1/2 cup water

Instructions

  1. In a pot on medium heat, add 1 tsp oil, the diced onion, carrots, green cabage and celery. Let the vegetables soften for 5 minutes, stiring regularly.
  2. Add the bay leaf, minced garlic cloves, tomato paste and vegetable stock. Cook 2 minutes, stirring regularly.
  3. Add the lentils, water, salt and pepper. Bring to a lowe boil and let simmer, covered on low for 50 minutes.
  4. Taste and ajust seasoning as needed.
  5. Serve with warm buns and butter. Garnish with fresh greens (e.g. parsley, dill, fennel greens)

Ingredients flexibility - reduce food waste

This soup is delicious with a variety of vegetables, grains, stock. If you prefer to include meat in the soup, we recommend a sausage like chorizo or a fennel sausage. 

  • Adding sausage to the soup: Take the meat out of the cassing and cook it in the pan before adding the vegetables in step 1.
  • Stock: You can use any stock you have on hand. Chicken, beef and vegetable stocks are great options. If you have fresh stock, replace half the water in the soup with stock.
  • Vegetables: Is there any vegetables that may go bad soon in the fridge? Leek, zuchhini, parnips and squash (e.g. butternut) would all be great options as they can cook for a long time. If you’d like to add peas or green beans to the soup, wait until the last 5 minutes of cooking.
  • Grains: French lentils are a great fit in this soup but many other grains would work: barley, red lentils, brown lentils, brown rice, quinoa, millet. Adjust the cooking time to the time the grain needs to cook. You can also combine different grains if they have a similar cooking time. 

What are some local options for this recipe

Vegetables:

  • a variety of farms and colony offer vegetables all year. You can find delicious root vegetables and other winter vegetables at local grocery stores and at Farmers Markets.

Lentils:

Sausage:

Bay leaf:

Where to find local ingredients

Theres many way to find local foods. Here are some of our favourite ways to shop:

  • Look for local at the grocery store. There are more and more local products in most grocery stores. These products are normally visibly labeled as local. 
  • Contact the producers directly.  In the book Flat Out Delicious, Jenn Sharpe presents many  Saskatchwan farmers and producers. You can then, contact them directly to order your ingredients. 
  • Farmers market
  • Local grocery stores: