“A recipe has no soul. You, as the cook, must bring soul to the recipe.”
by Thomas Keller
NOTE. I love to cook; when I am in the mood. 😋 The Mediterranean Diet has introduced me too many delicious recipes, which has been fun and challenging. So, I decided to share my cooking escapades.
The temperature has been over 90 degrees and the humidity horrendous! It is too hot to cook. I am looking for a quick healthy meal that I can pull out the refrigerator and heat up. The first thing that comes to mind is soup and salad. Yup, soup in 90 plus degree weather. 😬
Since I have been on the Mediterranean Diet, lentil soup has become my second favorite soup; the first is tomato basil soup. The best lentil soup I have tasted is Pacific’s Vegetable Lentil and Roasted Red Pepper Soup.
But, there is nothing like homemade soup. Cookieandkate.com “ Best Lentil Soup” recipe, which is vegan, received a 4.9 out of 5 rating, with over 5,000 comments. Now let’s see if I can create Cookie and Kate’s Best Lentil Soup.
TIME TO COOK!
Rinsed organic green lentils. The recipe said to pick-out the lentils; I was unsure what “picking out” means. So, any lentils that looked “different,” from the others, was picked out.
Step 1 – Sauté onions and carrots in a 1/4 cup of olive oil. A 1/4 cup of olive oil sounds like a lot. As stated in the recipe, the olive oil adds richness and heartiness to the soup; do not decrease the amount of oil.
Step 2 – Add fresh chopped garlic
Step 3 – Add cumin and curry; two of my favorite Mediterranean seasonings, including Zatar. Since, I did not have any thyme, I used Italian seasoning.
Step 4 – The aroma is intoxicating!
Step 5 – Add diced tomatoes. I used fire roasted and garlic flavored chopped tomatoes.
Step 6 – Add lentils, broth and water.
Step 7 – Due to my high blood pressure, I did not add salt. Therefore, I used lots of black pepper.
Step 8 – Cook for thirty (30) minutes
Step 9 – Place two cups of the soup into a blender. This step was confusing – the recipe said “protect your hand from steam with a tea towel and placed over the lid.” The towel fell into the bowl. I understand the reasoning. However, using a hand blender on low prevented any splatter and there was not any steam. 🤷🏾♀️
Step 10 – Pour the purée into the soup and mix.
Step 11 – Soup is almost finish. The recipe called for kale or collard greens. I used spinach, since that is what I had on-hand.
Step 12 – The last step is adding lemon juice. I was nervous about the lemon juice, did not want any bitterness. But, who am I to question the process.
All done and the soup looks delicious!
Taste Test!
A few lentils are hard. Ignore my frowns, this lentil soup pleases all the senses: colorful, aromatic and delicious!
Gained daughter’s initial reaction and she also found the soup to be tasty.
Cookie and Kate got it right, THIS IS THE BEST LENTIL SOUP! 👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽
If you are considering making the soup, follow the link to Cookie and Kate’s recipe; I provided the “cliff notes” version.😋
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