French Lentil Soup with Garlic Sausage plus Salad

Sometimes the best dinners are the simple ones. One of my favorite things to have for dinner is a simple (or fancy) grilled cheese sandwich with a cup of tomato bisque. While we didn't have that last night, we did have a pretty simple meal consisting of soup, salad and a Black Pepper Parmesan roll from the Whole Foods bakery (yum.) Somehow I clicked delete when transferring my pictures over so I don't have any today. And my salad looked so pretty but for whatever reason my soup didn't look like the picture in the cookbook. There's had a black base which I couldn't quite figure out. Anyways, I hope you enjoy!

French Lentil Soup with Sausage 
Makes 6 full cups
taken from Sunday Soup

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup carrots diced (1/4" dice)
1/2 cup onion, chopped
1/2 cup celery diced 1/4" dice)
3 cloves garlic smashed and peeled
6 ounces kielbasa or garlic sausage -- cut into 1/4" dice
2 teaspoons thyme dried
9 cups beef stock
2 bay leaves
1 pound Puy lentils (these are green lentils that can be found in the bulk section of WF)
kosher salt

1/4 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley


  Steps:

Heat oil in a large pot (with a lid) over medium heat. When hot, add the carrots, onion, and celery. Cook stirring often, until the vegetables are just softened, for about 5 minutes. Add the garlic, sausage, and thyme, and cook 1 minute more.

Add the stock and bay leaves, and bring mixture to a simmer over high heat. Stir in the lentils, then reduce heat, cover and cook at a gentle simmer until tender, for about 50 minutes.

Remove and discard the bay leaves. Remove the garlic pieces and transfer to food processor. Using a slotted spoon, strain 1/2 cup solids (vegetables and sausage) from the soup and puree them with garlic pieces in a food processor or combine them with garlic pieces in a small bowl and smash with the back of a fork. Stir the pureed mixture into the pot; this will thicken the soup slightly. Taste the soup and season with salt, as needed.

To serve, ladle the soup into soup bowls and sprinkle with some parsley over each serving. 






Simple Salad Dressing Recipe for Mixed Greens

2 Tbsp red wine vinegar
1/2 tsp Dijon mustard
1/2 tsp kosher salt
freshly ground black pepper
1/3 cup olive oil

Combine vinegar,  mustard, salt and several grinds of pepper in a bowl. Whisk to blend. Next whisk in the olive oil. Cover and refrigerate or serve right away.