Lentil and Veggie Soup with Italian Sausage

This is definitely going to be one of my new favorite early spring soups. It's easy to double and freezes well. You could easily put in a whole pound of sausage, but I'm trying to lose some weight so I kept it minimal. The original recipe called for escarole, which I'm sure would be delicious, but I had a head of cabbage so I used that instead. The flavor was really good, the vinegar adds a nice tang. Overall just really tasty, very comfort food and chock full of veggies which is nice. You could even add some canned diced or crushed tomatoes if you want a little more zing. 

It is not the prettiest soup though, so no pictures this time!

Ingredients
1 2/3 cups lentils (11 ounces), rinsed well
5 cups water
3 1/2 cups reduced-sodium chicken broth
1 bay leaf
4 garlic cloves, finely chopped, divided
1 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
.5 pound spicy Italian sausage links, cut into 1-inch pieces
1 medium onion, finely chopped
2 medium carrots, finely chopped
2 celery ribs, finely chopped
2-3 tablespoons tomato paste
1/2 pound escarole or 1/2 Medium head of cabbage, chopped (4 cups packed)
1 to 2 tablespoons red-wine vinegar


1. In a 5-6 quart pot brown sausages in olive oil, about 7 minutes. It does not need to be cooked through as long as casings are evenly brown. Transfer sausage with a slotted spoon to a bowl.
2. Reduce heat to medium and cook onion, carrots, celery, garlic, bay leaf, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 5 minutes. Stir in tomato paste and cook, stirring, 2 minutes. 

3. Add lentils, broth and water. Simmer, uncovered, until lentils are tender.
4. Stir in escarole/cabbage and cook until tender, about 3 minutes. 

5. Add sausages and cook until cooked through.

6. Stir in vinegar to taste and season with salt and pepper. Discard bay leaf.

Dere-licht my balls.

Welcome to summer!

So yeah, I've been a little remiss in my duties, but it's mostly because I haven't really made anything unusual recently, and even less so with my produce. I've been roasting vegetables mostly. It's easy. I can set it up, take the dog for a short walk (praying the house doesn't burn down while I'm away) I get back sprinkle it with lemon and dill/rosemary/basil/herb d'jour, and eat. But I promise I'll be better.

I need to add this recipe that I did for Broccoli Almond Soup. It was terrible, and took a great deal of re-working, but I think the theory is good. I can't decide whether to put my recipe for German Pork Roast on here, since it doesn't have anything to do with my produce, since I don't make my own Sauer Kraut. We'll see. Tonight is going to be pan-roasted chicken quarters and roast/steamed asparagus (depends on how hot it gets!).

Ginger and Lemon Carrot Soup

This is one of my favorite soups. It's flavorful and filling, and it's cheap to make, especially if you make your own stock. Instead of the sour cream I like to add 1.5 tsps Sriracha to it for a little bit of added heat.

Bottomline: 4.2 Stars

Steak and Pureed Cauliflower and then Cauliflower Soup.

This doesn't need much of an introduction... This was the best pureed cauliflower I've had. Normally it's just a very weak substitution for mashed potatoes, but this stood on it's own as just plain delicious. Steaks were seasoned and then pan fried. I reheated the leftover cauliflower the next day, added some half and half, cut up a baguette, and presto-magicko cauliflower soup for lunch!

Bottomline: 4.0 Stars

Zucchini Vichyssoise

I love leeks. I love potatoes. I love soup. So it comes as no huge shock that I love Vichyssoise. When I got both of those things in the produce box last week I was super thrilled and immediately thought of making it. But I deferred, I said to myself: The who purpose of this is try things and experiment. So I started looking around for recipes with leeks. I was truly tempted to make leek confit and serve it with salmon... but I didn't. Then it was getting to be a while and soup seemed more logical since my leeks were less than pristine. So I thought I'll make Vichyssoise after all, but I'll look around and see if there is any different spin on it I can try. 

This was so so so good, not to mention really pretty looking! Once the zucchini purees it's almost like there are spices in the soup, there's these nice green flecks that just look lovely against the creamy potato. The other thing I really like about this recipe is that it's a little more practical than making a traditional Vichyssoise. Let's face it: Creme Fraiche is expensive and a freaking hassle to find. So most people normally fake it by mixing half and half or cream with sour cream. This was a nice departure from that. Especially since sour cream inevitably goes bad in my fridge unless I can also plan to make Mexican food. Now I have half and half  for my  tea and I don't feel quite so wasteful.

As to taste, I'm not sure that the zucchini added a ton of flavor, it was subtle, especially paired with something as potent as leeks. But it's a really good soup that I'm going to be eating for the next few days and that is NOT a problem for me! :P I've been serving it warm, it's not quite hot enough yet in Seattle for chilled soups, it's just as good warm as it is cold!

Bottom Line: 4.5 Stars