Walter’s Legendary Lentil Soup

Here’s a lentil soup that invites you to come back for a second helping. Not quite sure if you like lentils? then try this soup. It is smooth and flavorful — the recipe is one which I’ve held on to for years from an old Bon Appétit magazine. It is one of my favorite lentil recipes. The soup fits into a healthy Mediterranean Diet meal plan, making it a good way to start out the new year.

Lentils are a nutritious dried bean. They are a legume, a complete protein and fit into a healthy plant-based diet.  Lentils are also a good source of other nutrients. They contain fiber, complex carbohydrates (the type which lowers blood sugar and cholesterol) and are low in fat and calories. Lentils are rich in vitamins and minerals including folate, potassium, iron and manganese.

One advantage of lentils is that these small beans don’t take as long to cook as other dried beans. It takes less than one hour the recipe dish to finish cooking. In addition, lentils don’t have to be soaked prior to cooking. The mild flavor of lentils means that spices and seasonings enhance and flavor a dish without overpowering it.

This soup recipe is made with brown lentils, beef stock and ham with savory, vegetables and tomato puree for seasoning. 

Camellia Brand of Beans

The brand of lentils that I’m using for the soup is Camellia Brand — a Louisiana product from a company founded in New Orleans. I always like to feature Louisiana products when possible. This brand is familiar to anyone who shops in a grocery store in southern Louisiana.  According to Camellia’s  WEB site

“Our great-grandfather, Lucius Hamilton Hayward, founded L.H. Hayward and Company in 1923 to sell red beans in the famous old French Quarter Market in New Orleans, and while we’ve expanded to offer our beans, peas, and lentils to the world, what we’re most proud of is our commitment to make every bag our best.”

Reference: https://www.camelliabrand.com/

Brown lentils are the most common lentiols sold in the US along with green lentils. There are other varieties of lentils, too, not common in US cooking, such as black lentils – most frequently used in Indian cooking — red and orange lentils — Middle Eastern and Indian cooking.

Lentils probably originated in central Asia, having been consumed since prehistoric times. They are one of the first foods to have ever been cultivated. Lentil seeds dating back 8000 years have been found at archaeological sites in the Middle East.

Recipe

This recipe dates back to an old Bon Appétit magazine from 1985 — so old that the parent publishing company said that they no longer have rights to the magazine article via E-mail communication with me. Look at the store shelf price, $1.95, and check out those vintage fashion styles in the ad. What memories!  At the suggestion of a friend, I subscribed to the magazine for 2 years back in the 1980’s — then just recycled the recipes again and again. From all the sticky notes, you can see that I earmarked many of the recipes. The 1985 year was apparently a good year for Bon Appétit recipes.

The recipe author, Richard Sax, was a chef and prolific cooking writer from New York City who taught millions of readers “that elegant food could be prepared in ordinary kitchens using everyday ingredients.” Richard Sax was a regular column contributor to Bon Appétit and was the founding chef-director of Food & Wine Magazine’s test kitchen. He was author or co-author of eight major cookbooks including  his masterpiece, “Classic Home Desserts” (Chapters Publishing, 1994), which won numerous cookbook awards. Mr. Sax passed away in 1995, according to the New York Times.

Recipe

This soup recipe is easy to make and it takes about an hour or slightly longer to prepare. I followed the recipe as written, with a substitute for savory. It could easily be updated reducing the oil used in sauteing  the ingredients without changing the results.

The lentils, diced ham and savory are cooked in beef broth for about half an hour until still slightly firm to the bite. Add more broth if needed.

Then the sauteed vegetables (carrots, bell peppers, onion and garlic), tomato puree, and vinegar are added. The soup is thickened with a light brown roux (or white sauce) and let to simmer for another half an hour. Adjust seasonings adding salt (if needed) and black pepper. That’s the soup! Serve with homemade croutons (Mr. Sax provided a recipe) or use store-purchased ones.

Don’t have savory on your shelf? I didn’t want to make a trip to the store for a spice that I rarely ever use. So I substituted dried thyme and sage for the savory. I also used some mild jalapeno peppers for the red bell pepper.

This soup has just the right amount of flavor to complement the beans. It is a very soothing soup. The recipe makes a large batch — I froze some of the left overs. And it’s very healthy.  Give the soup a try and enjoy!