Soupy Sundays...

Yesterday I made another soup for lunch. Soup seems like such a good thing to make on Sundays, because there are often leftovers for lunches during the beginning of the work week (some people in this country had to go to work today- I'm looking at you, family members in ONTARIO!).

This week's soup was Fleuri's Curry Lentil Soup, which I found on Rachael Ray's website. The recipe is described as "Indian spices give lentils an exotic touch. Add spinach for color and extra nutrients and serve with naan bread." I don't add the spinach- who needs those extra nutrients? Ick.

Here's the recipe, for those interested in trying it (unfortunately I didn't take a picture this time).

Fleuri's Curry Lentil Soup
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¼ cup extra virgin olive oil (EVOO)
5-6 cloves garlic, finely chopped or grated
1 small carrot, peeled and finely chopped
1 small chili pepper, seeded and finely chopped
1 large shallot, finely chopped
1½ cups yellow, red or green lentils
Salt
2 rounded palmfuls curry powder blend (recipe below)
1 quart chicken or vegetable stock
2-3 cups water

Curry Powder:
3 parts coriander
1 part cumin
1 part turmeric
1 part hot chili powder
1 part garam masala
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Heat a soup pot over medium-high heat. Add the EVOO, four turns of the pan, garlic, carrot, chili pepper and shallot and cook until the mixture softens, about 2-3 minutes. Stir in the lentils and toss to coat in the EVOO; season with salt, to taste, and the curry powder blend or Ras el hanout. Add the stock and water to the soup and bring to a boil over medium heat. Reduce the heat and simmer until lentils are tender, about 40 minutes. Season with salt, if needed. Cool completely and store in the refrigerator for a make-ahead meal.

Soupy Sundays...

In an attempt to regularize the blog and my blog postings, I'm going to try to do different themed postings each day of the week. Obviously one thing we have a lot of time for here in the north is cooking... so I figured some days should be devoted to sharing the good (and bad) recipes that we've found, tried and think other people should know about! So we'll start with "Soupy Sundays." I think that soups are the easiest thing to make, and they're great because they spin out for lunches for at least a couple of days. Makes things nice and easy!

I'll start with a soup recipe that I have made before, and that I just made the other night when we were having asparagus chicken (I'll save that recipe for another time- it's a must-try as well) for dinner. This is called Onion Mushroom Soup, and is from Canadian Living Magazine.

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Onion Mushroom Soup

Ingredients

2 tbsp (25 mL) butter
5 cups (1.25 L) thinly sliced onions, (about 2 large)
1 large clove garlic, sliced
2 tsp (10 mL) packed brown sugar
1/4 tsp (1 mL) dried thyme
1 bay leaf
2 cups (500 mL) thinly sliced small mushrooms
1/2 tsp (2 mL) salt
1/2 tsp (2 mL) pepper
1/3 cup (75 mL) dry sherry or wine
4 cups (1 L) sodium-reduced beef broth or vegetable broth

Preparation:

In large saucepan, melt butter over medium heat; cook onions, garlic, sugar, thyme and bay leaf, stirring occasionally, until onions are very soft and starting to brown, about
20 minutes.

Add mushrooms, salt and pepper; cook, stirring, until well browned, about 10 minutes. Add sherry; cook, scraping up browned bits, until no liquid remains.

Add broth and 1/2 cup (125 mL) water; bring to boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 10 minutes. Discard bay leaf.
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Unfortunately I didn't take a picture of this one! The Canadian Living Recipe calls for the soup to be served with french bread covered in cheese. In an attempt to cut calories, we don't do the bread with cheese.

Enjoy! Next week I'll share the Lazy Turkey Jerky Soup!