Sonyas French Lentil Soup

[Penance]

Good but not great. I'm an ovo-lacto vegetarian and my husband is an omni and while we both liked this soup well enough, neither one of us loved it.  I probably would have liked it more without the thyme added to it, so if I make it again, I'll be leaving that out.

For some reason, I also found that I had to cook mine way longer than 40 minutes before the lentils were tender.  Some of them got tender right on schedule and others were still hard in the middle.

[mdvegan]

This recipe has been on my 'need to try' list for nearly a year.  It always sounded good, but hey, it's lentil soup, how exciting could it be?  Finally, I had all ingredients on hand and decided to give it a whirl.  Wow!  Why did I wait so long?  Make it now.  Stop what you are doing, get anything you need to make the soup, and proceed to be amazed by the complex flavors and aromas. 

I did substitute herbes de provence for the thyme/oregano and omitted all of the olive oil.  I also cooked my soup for about 1.5 hours, but I think my lentils might have been sort of old. 

Thanks for the recipe.

[DanicaB]

I have made this soup twice and I am working on cooking my third right now. It always comes out amazing.

[berryraw]

I made this the other day and it is EXCELLENT!  I made it using both oregano and thyme.  The mustard seemed a little strong at first but the soup was perfect the next day.    Thanks for sharing this recipe!

[makeinu]

Good stuff!!  What can I say...  I made it like it said (except I put the mustard in before the 40 minutes).  Thanks for the recipe, it was a good use of lentils!

[CannedSunshine]

Very tasty...yum!

I am allergic to wine so instead of the red wine, I used vegan "beef" stock with a splash each of white tequila, apple juice, and lemon juice. (Allergic to vodka too, or I would have used a good pure-tasting one there.) Massel brand stock cubes or liquid is the best one I've found, they also do animal-free "chicken" stock and vege stock.

[sstofer]

Wow. What a great lentil soup. This is going to be my new standard lentil soup. I added 2 carrots finely chopped and some green beans chopped just to get some more veggies in there. I loved the crushed garlic, there were big chunks of stewed garlic goodness. And the wine made it really lovely and rich and the dijon was the perfect finale. Also, I didn't have tomato paste on hand so I used a couple tablespoons of tomato sauce, and I added a lot more water in the end to make it a little more brothy. So DELICIOUS!

[rccourtney]

I liked this recipe quite a bit but it tasted better before I added the thyme so, next time I will leave that out.  I also made half a batch since the recipe indicated that it made a ton but, my husband and I had minimal leftovers since it was so tasty (or maybe we're just pigs) . 

[NicoleGray]

I make this recipe all the time and it is consistently fantastic.  So much more complexity than most lentil soups, and nearly impossible to screw up.  I find it takes longer to cook than the recipe says, but that's the only difference.

I've made this for a couple of friends and every single one of them has requested the recipe.

[aquarhapsody]

This soup is incredible! I had never cooked with wine until I came across this recipe and decided to give it a try. I had half a bottle of Shiraz and half a bottle of Cabernet, so I mixed them and it turned out fantastic. The mustard is definitely the defining touch.

[IlansterMonster]

Yum! I definitely recommend not skimping on the dijon mustard- it goes very well with the flavors of the soup!

I used french green lentils which was nice because they retained their shape. I also added the suggested carrot and spinach and used both thyme AND oregano, which turned out fine. I just used more oregano than thyme since there were a few previous comments on how it was too strong for them.

I paired the soup with a sourdough crusty bread and a garden salad (plus the leftover wine from the recipe of course!) Me and my omni date I was cooking for (as well as one of his hungry roomies) all give the recipe a thumbs up 

[BostonSnorter]

We followed the recipe exactly and it was absolutely amazing! Very unique taste. Only thing is our lentils took quite a bit longer - maybe 20 minutes - to cook.  Might used tinned next time or precook them.

[lizbelden]

Hey, this is probably a stupid question but I don't cook too much...

when you say "sorted" lentils you just mean a variety of colors, right?  Like brown, red, green, etc?

Let me know when you get a chance (or if anyone else knows on here).

Thanks!

Sorted lentils are NOT the same as assorted lentils.  Sorted means that you've looked them over well and there are no rocks or dirt in with your dried lentils (it doesn't happen often, but it's best to make sure).

[jkjive]

Just wonderful! Quick and easy but very flavorful... Thank You!

I used tarragon and added ginger to the recipe.