Saturday, January 4, 2014

A soup to chase the cold away


It is cold and miserable outside: rain, rain, nothing but rain! And as if this wouldn't be misery enough I am trying hard to shake off the mother of all colds. So what better remedy is there than a nice hot  soup and better even, one that is fast and easy to prepare. Best: I had all ingredients in the pantry - and even fresh sage as that is the only plant surviving all year round in my kitchen garden. Plus sage is supposed to have anti-inflammatory, antioxidant and antimicrobial properties - perfect!

You start by finely slicing 3 garlic cloves, and also very finely chopping a handful of sage leaves. Wash and quarter 400g/two cups of cherry tomatoes, weigh 200g/1 1/2 cups of red lentils, open a medium (400g/14 oz) can of chopped tomatoes and prepare 1.5 l/ 6 cups of vegetable broth.
Sautée the garlic and cherry tomatoes for a few minutes in a splash of olive oil, add the chopped tomatoes, chopped sage and let bubble away for a few minutes. Add the lentils, the vegetable broth and let cook for about 10 to 15 minutes until the lentils are tender. Taste and season with black pepper and salt if necessary and serve with a sprinkling of either leftover sage or flat leaf parsley.
I really, really liked the very clean taste of the soup but next time will cook it with tiny little bits of pasta (orzo) as I didn't care too much about the texture of the red lentils. But best of all - my cold is much, much better!

9 comments:

  1. you have rain and we have snow. and we have really cold weather. i just made soup too!

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  2. Love it! Cooking lentils with tomatoes does flavor them a lot. I

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  3. Happy New Year Barbara to you and your husband I hope you have more fun than ever in the kitchen and yes, isn't this rain too much! Great photo.

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  4. Beautiful and hope you feel better!

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  5. Glad you're feeling better. I can see how this soup could make you feel all warm and cozy!

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  6. that's the best remedy for cold, looks so delicious - happy new year to you!:) x

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  7. I love red lentils. There is a restaurant here that it is their signature dish. I thought I had posted about it, but I have not. Looks like that is what I should be posting about. Everytime I take someone there they think it is kind of funny tasting and then a few weeks later they want to know if we can go have some more.

    So glad you are feeling better.

    M~

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  8. Your soup is near-perfect for the weather we are having and that photo makes it most appealing. I'm a day behind in my response to comments, so, I thought I'd answer your question about the rib roast here. This method will NOT work for beef served as rare as you are accustomed to. If you have time to experiment Ann Seranne's method will, but you'll have to play with roasting times. Have a great day. Blessings...Mary

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