It seems like from coast to coast, everyone has experienced the same frigid cold weather and that makes me think of one thing – great homemade soup! I have been getting a lot of requests for soup recipes so I would like to share my favorite, Bacon and Lentil Soup. I developed this recipe for our monthly wine dinners, and it has been a hit - enjoy!
Ingredients:
Olive Oil ¼ cup
Garlic, Fresh Chopped 1 Tbsp
Carrots, Diced ¼” ½ cup
Yellow Onions, Julienne 1/8” 1 cup
Applewood Smoked Bacon, Diced 1/4” (raw) 1/2 lb
Salt 2 tsp
Black Pepper 1 tsp
Beef Broth 4 cups
Water 6 cups
Lentils, Rinsed 2 cups (1 lb)
Roma Tomatoes, Diced 1/2” 1 cup
Cannellini Beans, Rinsed 3 cups (1-15 oz cans)
Parlsey, Fresh Chopped 2 Tbsp
Procedure:
1. Work area and utensils must be clean and sanitary.
2. Place a large stock pot or braising pot on medium heat. Add seasoned olive oil, garlic, carrots, onions, applewood bacon, salt and pepper to pot. Sauté until bacon is thoroughly cooked. Make sure that garlic is not burnt, only golden brown.
3. Add beef broth, water and rinsed lentils to the pot and bring liquid to a boil. As soon as liquid reaches a boil, lower heat to low and let pot simmer for 40 minutes. Lentils should be soft and cooked by now.
4. Next, we will be removing some of the lentils, blending them and then returning them to the soup to help thicken it: Using a 4 ounce ladle, scoop out 2 full ladles of lentils from the liquid and tilt the ladle against the side of the pot to drain any excess liquid. There may be some small pieces of carrot, onion or bacon in the lentils and that is fine, just try to scoop out a majority oflentils. Add the lentils to a blender. Then add one ladle full of liquid from the pot to the blender. Blend until smooth and then return to the pot. The final soup should contain about 50% lentil pieces and 50% blended lentils.
5. After blended lentils have been returned to the pot, add roma tomatoes, cannellini beans and parsley. Let simmer until soup reaches 165 degrees F and then immediately lower the heat. It is now ready to serve or cool down to save for later.
and 