Photo by Lucie Monk
As I begin this blog post, Louisiana weather is concerning me. Not because it's icy cold out and my fingers required a good fifteen minutes before I could type this morning. Not because we forgot to drip the pipes at the office and are suffering a distinct lack of running water today. No, I'm concerned because I'm about to tout this lentil soup as the perfect cold weather recipe...and chances are it will be eighty degrees out before the end of the week.
Still, though, I'll take my chances. I don't remember a frightful chill on Friday night when I took this recipe into my kitchen, and yet my knees easily twisted into a swoon at a taste of the garlic and herbs infused in the broth; the lentils—so wonderfully susceptible to their surrounding flavors; and the vino et formaggio chicken sausage I picked up at Trader Joe's. Actually, most all the ingredients came from Trader Joe's. It might not have the wide array of produce boasted by Whole Foods or Fresh Market, but it's convenient, cheap, and chock full of unique prepared foods. From now on, I'll happily rely on it.
I'm sure the original recipe, which is served over a mound of angel hair pasta, would have been a hit regardless, but I wanted to make it my own. When I happened upon a recipe for roasted tomato and almond pesto, I knew I found my perfect accessory. Accessory to the crime of tasting so stinkin' good.
Roasted Tomato & Almond Pesto Pictures and recipe can be found here.
Diamond Jim Moran's Lentil Soup (original recipe here)
Test Kitchen notes: I halved the recipe and ended up with about 4—6 servings. I also replaced the Italian sausage with a chicken sausage and found it to be delicious. Served with a dollop of the tomato almond pesto followed by freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano. Paired with a glass of Beaujolais Nouveau.
Ingredients: 1 lb. bag lentil beans 2 tbsp. garlic, chopped ¼ cup shallots 4 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil 1 tbsp. salt ¼ tbsp. black pepper 2 large bay leaves 1 tbsp. dried oregano 2 lbs. Italian sausage 1 lb. angel hair pasta Grated Parmesan cheese Method: Wash lentils well and remove all rocks.
In a pan, cook Italian sausage until golden brown, remove and put aside.
In a 1 gallon pot with olive oil, sauté shallots and garlic. Cook until shallots are translucent; make sure you don’t burn the garlic. Combine sausage, beans, oregano, bay leaves, salt, pepper and enough water (approximately 2 inches above beans) to cover beans. Cook for approximately 1 hour or until beans are tender, stirring every 10 minutes.
Boil 1 pound of angel hair pasta. Add salt to water. Pasta should be cooked al dente. For each serving, pour lentil soup and sausage over pasta and grate parmesan cheese on top.
