Lentils are a super-food – high in fiber – but not everyone likes their taste. Matt must have had a bad experience with them at some point because he groans and rolls his eyes whenever he hears the word “lentil”.  I told him that he might want to give red lentils a try  because they have a milder taste than the green/brown variety, but he wasn’t buying it.  So I did what I had to do. I snuck them into a tomato soup recipe that I was working on.  Red lentils break apart when they cook so they’re easier to puree, and their red color blends in nicely with the tomatoes.  They also give this soup a little bit of thickness and heft, not to mention six important minerals, two B-vitamins, and protein. Matt loves this soup and didn’t realize it had lentils until he read the recipe sitting on the counter.  He never said, “I was wrong and you were right,” but I know he was thinking it.

When serving, I add grilled whole grain bread chunks and a splash of olive oil on top.

5.0 from 1 reviews

Print
Tomato Soup with Red Lentils
: 
 

Ingredients
  • 28 oz can diced tomatoes with juice, plus
  • 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes with juice
  • 1 cup dry red lentils
  • 4 cups vegetable broth
  • 1 large yellow onion
  • 2 carrots
  • 5 cloves garlic
  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
  • 1 tsp dried basil (or fresh if you have it)
  • 1 tsp salt
  • ½ tsp black pepper
  • crushed red pepper to taste

Instructions
  1. Rinse and strain one cup dry red lentils.
  2. Peel and chop carrots into thin pieces so they’ll cook quickly.
  3. Chop the onion and garlic and saute with carrots in olive oil for 10 minutes.
  4. Combine all ingredients in large pot, bring to a boil and then simmer for about 15 minutes until carrots are soft.
  5. Puree everything in the pot with a stick blender.
  6. This soup is great topped with some grilled bread, sliced into croutons.

Wordpress Recipe Plugin by EasyRecipe