Brown Lentil Soup

Brown Lentil Soup

So I’ll fill you guys in on a little secret, a joy of mine is to eat cheaply. I REALLY like to eat cheaply, I don’t know what it is but the thought of eating a lot on very little is exciting. More so when I see how much money I can potentially have left over if I do so.

But being a food blogger and someone who “aspires” to eat healthy doesn’t always let you eat cheaply. Recently we’ve started a gag called our, “Fabulous Fifty Dollar Life” at the grocery store. Basically we walk around the grocery store and say does this fit into our “Fabulous Fifty Dollar Life” if the answer is “yes” then it goes in the cart, if “no” then back on the shelves. I can’t believe I just explained that.

So one ingredient that really fits into our game is, lentils. They are cheap, really cheap, an average bag only costs about $3.00. But they are a packed with nutrients and protein, so if you are vegan or cheap you can get a quality meal from lentils. According to the interwebs, 100 grams of ground raw meat has 19 grams of protein, by comparison lentils have 25 grams!

Lately though, I’ve been using lentils because they are a perfect vessel to carry a delicious sauce you made or like I made in this dish which is a soup. This soup came to sorts by accident, at first I was just preparing the lentils to pour into a sauce but they mushed up so much that I decided to make a soup instead.

Lentil soup has a great creamy texture and it’s super satisfying. The way I’ve prepared it here doesn’t use any ham hocks, but you can use them if you wanted to make it more decadent. Also I had scraps from a rotisserie chicken hanging around so I threw those in there also, good decision.

Brown Lentil Soup

Ingredients

1 cup of lentils
3 or 4 cups of water

1 Cup of Pasta Water * optional, I was making some egg fettucine and I threw in the excess water rather than straining the pasta (see laziness) and it added a great flavor to the soup.* You can use chicken or vegetable broth instead
1/2 tbsp salt
1 tsp. Pesto (if you don’t have pesto on you, use a mixture of thyme, rosemary, and a little bit of basil)

*Optional* Rotisserie chicken wing tips
*Optional *Rotisserie chicken skin
*Optional* Chicken juice underneath the rotisserie container

*If you don’t have the chicken parts, I suggest sauteeing a half cup of diced onions with a few crushed cloves of garlic in some olive oil. Then add your peas to them*

Method

Pour lentils into a pot.

Add water and salt. Bring heat up to medium high.

Heat lentils and stir, then add skin and wing tips. Cook for another 15 minutes. Reduce heat to medium low.

Then add your chicken juice.

Cook for another 15 minutes.

Scoop out all the loose chicken parts.

Now add your pesto and pasta water

Continue to cook for another 15 minutes the lentils will break down and become creamy.

Stir to avoid the lentils sticking to the bottom.

Cook on low until the soup is creamy and smooth. You want to make sure you don’t under cook the lentils, since you’re making a soup you can’t really overcook this. If you want the soup to be ultra creamy, pour the soup (in batches) into a blender.

Enjoy with a nice piece of crusty bread, or freeze the soup for later, it keeps well in the freezer for a few months at minimum.