Music and Cats

Just about the time daylight savings time ends, I’m ready for bean soups. Whether it’s the suddenly darker evenings, or the increasing damp and cold, I want something warm, earthy and filling, and beans are just the thing.

Last week, I had a bag of French green lentils, a couple of quarts of homemade chicken stock, and leeks and red kale from the farmers market. With those ingredients and a few herbs, I could’ve made a nice lentil soup, but I wanted something more. A search on epicurious.com turned up Lentil and Roasted Garlic Soup with Seared Steak, which added sweet potato, flank steak and lots of garlic to the ingredients I already had on hand.

Southern girl that I am, sweet potatoes are one of my favorite foods, and garlic makes most anything taste better. I made the soup as written (save for the salt), and Paul and I both thought it very good. It was a thin-ish soup, and when I decide to make it again this week (we liked it that much!), I went for something thicker and more stewlike. This time, I made a few changes: increasing the lentils, adding carrots, bay leaf and thyme, using an onion rather than a leek, and omitting the flank steak altogether. We like it even better this way.

Lentil Soup with Roasted Garlic, Sweet Potato and Kale
adapted from Bon Appetit

3/4 cup olive oil
10 garlic cloves, peeled, halved
1 tablespoon fresh rosemary leaves

1 medium onion, finely chopped
3 small carrots, finely chopped
1 tablespoon chopped fresh sage
1 cup French green lentils
8 cups chicken stock, preferably homemade
1/2 cup red lentils
1 1/2 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce
1 bay leaf
3 sprigs fresh thyme
1 1/2 pounds yams, peeled, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1/2 pound kale, ribs discarded, leaves thinly sliced
freshly ground black pepper

In a small, heavy saucepan, cook oil, garlic, and rosemary over lowest possible heat until garlic begins to brown. This will take about 1 1/2 hours. Drain the garlic oil into a bowl, discard the rosemary, and reserve the garlic cloves separately.

Heat 6 tablespoons garlic oil in heavy large pot over medium heat. Add onion, carrots and sage. Cook until vegetables are soft, stirring frequently, about 10 minutes.

Add 8 cups chicken stock and green lentils to pot. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer 25 minutes. Add red lentils, soy sauce, bay leaf and thyme to pot. Simmer until lentils are almost tender, about 15 minutes.

Add yams and garlic cloves to pot. Cook until yams are tender, adding more stock if needed to cover vegetables, about 10 minutes. Add kale to the soup. Simmer until kale is wilted, about 5 minutes. Season with freshly ground pepper (and salt if you’re so inclined).

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