Tuesday, December 14, 2021

Welcome Winter Soup

 Welcome, winter, I love you so. The colors of winter are my favorites, the yellowing fields and sharp brown trees. The thin sharp air. The late afternoon light, especially in my pretty city on the old red brick. I love being snug, seeing lights in the windows, making the house smell good with baking and soup. . . .so much soup. 



Let's not even talk about Christmas, ok? That ridiculously overdone thing that needs to stop hogging winter. We're doing Christmas at my house, yes, and my children are all in a tizzy about it, but I'm focused on winter. . . and soup. 

Here's one of my favorites, from Fountain Avenue Kitchen. My photos are mediocre, snapped in the rush of supper and daily life, but I promise you this recipe is a keeper.


With a loaf of homemade bread (also one of my favorite house smells), it's a supper we all love. I have fudged some of the amounts in this recipe or swapped ingredients, depending what I have on hand, and it's always delicious.

Tuscan Lentil Soup

Saute in olive oil in biggish soup pot:

1/2 lb. loose Italian sausage, or ground beef with some sage and fennel

1 large yellow onion, chopped

2 carrots, diced

1-2 ribs celery, chopped

When the sausage is browned, add:

2 tsp. Italian herbs

1 tsp. salt

good sprinkle red pepper flakes, however much heat you want

1 1/2 c. diced canned tomatoes (a 14.5 oz. can)

4 cups stock of choice, chicken recommended

1 cup water

1 cup dry brown lentils

1 potato, diced

3 garlic cloves, chopped

Cover and cook for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. 

Add:

2-3 cups chopped kale or spinach

2 tsp. balsamic vinegar

freshly ground pepper, to taste

Taste for salt. Add a bit more water if needed. I sometimes add some more herbs at this point. Serve in soup bowls with freshly grated Parmesan on top. So so so good. 

16 comments:

  1. Oh that sounds! I just made a big pot of split pea soup with lots of carrots, celery, onion and chopped up ham. We'll have to try your recipe I love Italian food!

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  2. Love the soup! We are also eating a lot of soup. It makes winter wonderful!

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  3. New reader here. The soup looks delicious! Can I ask about the clothespins on the cloth napkins in your pics? My family's get scattered around and mixed up during the day, and a system for keeping track of them would be quite the innovation, around here!

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    1. Hello! Yes, I wanted an easy, inexpensive system that would work with little kids! This system allows them to set the table without napkins falling out of rings and no worries if a clothespin gets lost or we want to expand our napkins to include frequent visitors. I write their names on with Sharpie (or the kids do as you see Phoebe's in the picture - and why she spelled her name without the "o" is a mystery to all, herself included), and I never have to buy napkin rings.

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  4. I make soup once a week in the winter. An easy, hearty favorite in our house is Winter Vegetable Soup. Basically, you pick four or so root veggies (e.g. carrots, parsnips, sweet potatoes) and roast them in the oven with olive oil, dried thyme and s + p. Blend when fully cooked with 3 cups of chicken stock, heat and add more stock if necessary. Garnish with croutons and parsley.

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    1. That is a great idea! I would even roast lots of veg for a meal side dish and then transform leftovers into your soup.

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    2. Smart thinking!
      And, to clarify, when I said "blend" I meant with either an immersion blender stick or an old fashioned blender. The stock will make it more souplike and less like a puree.

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    3. Yup, that's what I thought you meant.

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  5. Last year Thanksgiving was Italian day and Christmas was French day - it is just the two of us and we have had many traditional holiday meals in the past so I was ready for something different. That was fun but this year I needed another new idea. So for the whole month we have new LED candles for every evening, there will be lots of soups (there are so many different ones in my recipe file)and bread, dinner at the card table in the window with the view, and I'm looking for a mirror ball at thrift shops to hang above a light. I have also ordered lots of DVD movies from the library for our evening entertainment. We will also take a drive next weekend to see everyone's decoration lights and probably my own homemade eggnog - a simple recipe of eggs, milk, and sugar with a dash of whiskey just for flavor. Simple is better to really be in the season to my mind.

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    1. sillygirl, you have such lovely, doable ideas for enjoying winter. Inspiring!

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  6. Hooray for Soup Season!!!!

    I made a big pot of lentil soup last night. This one (http://bld-in-mt.blogspot.com/2018/06/a-truly-great-lentil-soup.html) though I didn't make the paprika infused oil and just tossed the paprika right in with the rest of the spices because I am lazy. Strike that. I was "feeling the rush of supper and daily life." That's kinder and more accurate.

    I love brick, though we don't have a lot of it here in my town.

    Just yesterday I composed a little poem in my head (that I've subsequently forgotten, as is the case with most of my poems) that centered on how I enjoy the "sharpness" of winter air. It seems like sharpness would be a bad thing, but....oh...it is very much a good thing. We're actually having winter this year (it seems to have taken the last two years off, by and large) and I am SO thrilled. You shoulda seen the grin on my face walking to the bus stop this morning through the Winter Wonderland!

    Thanks for your thoughtful take on winter. And soup!

    (And I am pleased to report to you that this year I opted to make a display of Winter Books rather than my more typical Christmas Book display. There *are* a couple of Christmas books on the Winter Books display, but only a couple.)

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    1. Oh Beth, good to be kind to yourself! An efficient cook who responds to the big picture of her life is not lazy, I agree.

      Love that you are giving winter some air time at the library :) I do really like Christmas but just want it to stay in its lane!!! Particularly annoyed when it overshadows Thanksgiving, which is more dear to me than Christmas.

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  7. I love soup season. It's what's for dinner every night from October through March.

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  8. Soup, stew, chili - I love them all! Cook once, eat many times. I made so much turkey, leek and potato soup that I took a quart to my neighbors. Sure, I could have frozen it but it's nice to be able to share.

    Completely agree about the 'winter holiday'. And about the love of winter itself!
    Thank you for this warm-hearted post!

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    1. Ah, it is nice to share! And now I've got chili in mind for next week, thanks to your comment.

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