Sonyas French Lentil Soup
3 tablespoon olive oil
1 large onion, diced
2 stalks celery, chopped
6 cloves garlic, smashed
2 bay leaves
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1 1/2 cup red wine
16 oz. dried lentils, sorted and rinsed
6 cup vegetable broth
2 tablespoon dried thyme or oregano
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
pepper to taste
optional: chopped spinach (frozen or fresh)
This makes a LOT of soup, but you will love it so much on these cold winter days that it won't last but a few days. I also find that it freezes pretty well.
Also, if you like carrots, you can substitute one stalk of celery for one carrot. I'm allergic to carrots, so I've never tried it, but I imagine it would be fine. Just make sure they are finely chopped.
1.) Heat a large soup pan over high heat. Add your oil and onions and celery. Saute until they start to take on color. Add bay leaves and garlic. After two minutes (or if the garlic starts to burn) work in the tomato paste and add the vegan wine. Reduce by three-quarters.
2.) Add the lentils and enough broth to cover with a couple inches of liquid. Simmer uncovered, periodically stirring and adding enough broth (or water, if you run out of broth) to cover.
3.) The soup should cook for about 40 minutes or until the lentils are tender. Add enough water for your desired consistency. Add a couple tablespoons of crushed thyme or oregano, and season to taste with pepper. If your broth is sodium-free you can add salt, but be careful- a lot of vegetable broth contain a lot of salt! Stir in a heaping spoonful of Dijon mustard and serve immediately.
Hope you enjoy! Pair it with some barley or rice for complete protein, or maybe just a big hunk of country bread. Even if you're not a huge mustard fan, please try the Dijon; my boyfriend hates mustard but he loves the perfume it gives this soup. The mustard, the vegan red wine, and the thyme really give it a French-y taste. Bon appetit!
SO HOW'D IT GO?
Excellent recipe! Made some minor adjustments (added carrot, had no red wine so used white wine). Delicious
So I cannot have wine, what would be the best substitute for it? Balsamic maybe?
This is a really wonderful meal - I made it on a whim as the weather took a turn and I just felt cold. The only thing I didn't have was celery but I just used carrot instead.
I halved the recipe as it was only for me this evening and I have enough to share with my my daughter and hubby for lunch tomorrow! The only other thing I did was to finely slice the garlic and herb wise I added half of each, oh, and I only had white wine but it worked beautifully.
I'm 36 weeks pregnant and haven't been able to eat much lately but still managed a whole bowl of this and a baguette to dip in it and pretty sure I could have eaten more! I normally hate having leftovers the day after (usually leaving them another day) but can't wait to have this one again and I just know it's going to be nicer tomorrow.
I added the spinach and really think it added something so wouldn't leave that out ;D
There is nothing original to say. This soup is hands down, one of the best things I've ever made... and cooking is a passion of mine. It reminded me of Julia Child's famous beef bourignon, but better. Who knew lentils and a couple simple ingredients could be so effing amazing?
I didn't have celery or onions (like, you would think it wouldn't be that great without those ingredients), so I substituted a bunch of shallots instead. I added about 4 thin-ish sliced carrots and vegan boullion. DAMN! Really! This was so good!
I do have to repeat something that I've seen a couple of times: you'll want crusty bread to go with this. Trust me on this one. I made biscuits and they didn't cut it. I'm thinking rosemary chiabatta or something of equal yummyness. Look. I even created a VegWeb account just so I could let the world know how amazing this recipe is.
YUMMO!! This soup was Amazing!! I halved the recipe, and added 1/2 cup pearled barley at the same time as the lentils to make a complete protein. The whole family loved it! It was super yum.
this soup was really good. i love lentil soup and this is the best one that I've made (it's not as good as others I've had in restaurants though). The mustard definitely contributed to the yummy flavor of the dish; i added a lot more than a tablespoon and also I added some balsamic vinegar, the spinach, and shredded carrots.
Oh, wow - this was so good!
I used no-chickN bouillon cubes, omitted the celery and used a carrot instead...I wish I had used red lentils instead of brown, but whatever. I ended up using a lot more water - I wanted it soupy, not stewy. The mustard made it awesome! Next time I will add more...
Not sure what wine I used - it was whatever was open, probably Shiraz.
normally I HATE lentils with a passion but this was fabulous! I made a few changes to suit my on hand status: Instead of veg stock I used 6cups of water and 3 vegan chikn boullion cubes. I didn't have tomato pasta so I used ketchup. We also doubled the mustard at the end and it tasted good. I used Cabernet Sauvignon and found that to be amazing.
Will definately make this again, it became a family favorite as soon as we tried it! For me it only made about 6 servings, 7 if pushing it.
Just wonderful! Quick and easy but very flavorful... Thank You!
I used tarragon and added ginger to the recipe.
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).
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