NICKY'S LENTIL SOUP

A restaurant that I have gone to over the years is known for a few of their dishes including their lentil soup.  The owner, Nicky, even gives out the recipe.  He has nothing to hide.  I recently made lentil soup using his recipe and of course I tweaked it and modified a few of the ingredients.  I added a wedge of chopped cabbage to the soup.  Since I didn't have tomato juice in the cupboards, I pureed a few tomatoes to make juice.  I didn't add the bay leaves for any other reason than just not adding them.  I also used an electric pressure cooker to make the soup and set it at medium pressure for 16 minutes.  Since there is an abundance of parsley in the garden, I added about half of cup of fresh chopped parsley along with fresh dill.  Another variation that you could do is instead of adding the fresh cabbage, you could add some sauerkraut instead.

The soup turned out to be delicious and both the DH and I enjoyed it this past week.  There is still another serving or two in the fridge which I may freeze for future work lunches.

A bowl of lentil soup 

INGREDIENTS:

2 tbsp olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
2 carrots, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 wedge of cabbage, chopped (optional)
2 cups green lentils
1 large can diced or chopped tomatoes
2 cups tomato juice or 5 tomatoes pureed into juice
9 cups water or stock
1/4 to 1/2 cup parsley, chopped
1-2 tbsp fresh dill, chopped
2 bay leaves
salt and pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS:

In a large soup pot, heat the oil on medium high heat.  Add the onions, carrots, celery and garlic and sauté for 10 minutes.

Add the rest of the ingredients, bring to a boil and then simmer, stirring occasionally.   Cook for an hour to 90 minutes, until the beans and vegetables are soft.  Serves 8.