Description
This hearty, veggie-packed soup eats like a meal and makes a perfect lunch all week long during these cold, winter months.
Ingredients
Scale
- 1 cup brown lentils
- 2 Tbsp olive oil
- 1 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 c onion, diced (about 1/2 a medium-size onion)
- 1 c red pepper, diced (about 1 small)
- 1/2 c carrots, diced (about 2 medium carrots)
- 1/2 c celery, chopped (about 2 large stalks)
- 1 (14.5 oz) can diced tomatoes
- 1 tsp paprika
- 2 tsp cumin
- 1 tsp curry powder
- 1/4 tsp pepper
- salt to taste (usually 2-3 large pinches for me)
- 64 oz (8 cups) vegetable broth
- 3 oz baby spinach, roughly chopped (3 cups)
- 1 Tbsp white wine vinegar
- Parmesan shavings for garnish (optional)
Instructions
- Pick over the lentils and discard any broken or misshapen lentils. Rinse in a colander under and drain thoroughly.
- In a large pot over medium-high heat, add the olive oil. Add the onion and garlic and cook, stirring often, until softened, about 5 minutes. Add the carrot, celery and red pepper. Stir constantly until soft, about 3 minutes.
- Stir in the broth, lentils, tomatoes (with juices), paprika, cumin and pepper. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to low, cover and simmer gently until the lentils are tender, about 30 minutes.
- Using an immersion blender, blend about 1/3-1/2 of the soup to create a thicker texture, but we sure to leave some lentils and veggies intact. You can also do this by scooping 1/3 of the soup into a blender, blending, then returning to the pot.
- Stir the chopped spinach into the soup. Cook, uncovered, just until the spinach wilts, about 1 minute. Turn off the heat and stir in the white wine vinegar. Serve immediately.