how do YOU make lentil soup?

i've made a few different varieties, never from a recipe but made from available ingredients, but the one i keep coming back to is this:

chop bacon, cook in the bottom of the pan, set aside
cook some chopped onions/crushed garlic in the bacon fat (it's not much
deglaze with some sherry or wine of any kind

chicken broth/s/p
small brown lentils (ziyam brand usually)

cook

add parsley, blend with immersion blender but not completely
cook a little bit longer, add s/p if necc

serve with a few bits of the bacon on top, a squirt of lemon, and a plotz of sambal oelek

OR

all of the above with curry powder instead of bacon/wine

i am asking this question because i just got a root canal and i can't chew anything. this is my way of coping.

All of the above, including bacon, minus wine, PLUS curry powder, plus chopped carrot, chopped tomato, some grated ginger. Top w a squeeze of lime juice and some sour yogurt.

We are lentil twins?!

Alternately there's a more classical Western version with shallots and rosemary and water instead of chix broth but it just isn't smoky or interesting or flavorful enough for me compared to the curry kind.

For lunch today I had that recipe and basmati rice and I skipped the yoghurt in favor of half an avocado, sliced. It was wonderful.

sisterz!

i've added shredded carrot, zucchini, spinach when they're around too. for some reason i never combine my curried things with my more western things because curry always overpowers everything for me.

BTW I don't blend any of it, and I cook most of the water out (or just add less) so that it's not a soup. More like "delicious lentil glop".

Also, before I deglaze and add chix broth, I first dump the dry lentils into the sautee along with the bacon fat & veg, and toast them a bit. Roasts the flavor a little and gives them some toothsomeness and resistance to being broken down in the cooking process.

xp oh yeah, sometimes spinach!

oh yeah, i do that too -- the toasting
but i like it smooth-ish, so i blend.

It's funny that you ask this now (sorry about the root canal btw) because I just made a large happy pot of the curry versh on Monday night because I'm broke and I had all the ingredients in stock. I've gotten three meals out of so far (will be 4 tomorrow) and every one has been awesome & satisfying & kept my energy up throughout the afternoon much more than anything else I can imagine taking to work.

Between the lentils and not having had any beer in three days, I feel like a million bucks.

Italian style: green/brown lentils, simmered in stock, with a TON of sauteed garlic and some salt. And thats it. Simple and gooood.

My other version's also a curry one: onions, garlic, lentils, some kind of curry paste/poweder (or just cumin and garam masala), then whatever veg is there. Usually spinach, or spinach/carrot/celery, or spinach and capsicum.

Never bacon or meat though. Do not like meat in my soups :/

i've pretty much never met a lentil soup i didn't like

I like making it so thick and curried it's more of a stew, and dumping it onto basmati rice with a blob o'yogurt.

^^ yes

i thought i was the only one who did yogurt blobs on stews!

I always look for creative ways to use a dairy topping. All soups with me either get yogurt, sour cream (if even vaguely Southwestern), or some version of grated cheese topping.

meanwhile, i prefer a standard soup with bread or crackers and cheese on the side.

I YAM HAVING LENTIL SLUDGE FOR LUNCH AGAIN MMMM MMMM GOOD

followed a recipe for this from 'daily soup' cookbook
was red lentils and called for roasted garlic also had can dice tomatos
was yum

did it have berbere or spices similar? that's how i make ethiopian lentil soup/stew.

nope

oh you should try it that way! it's amazing! garlic/onions/ginger as aromatics, i add about three spoons of berbere that i get at the ethiopian shop across the street from the broadway ethiopian diamond (you're in/near chicago, iirc? it's called kukulu market) and blend at the end. deeeeeeeeeeeeeeelish.

veggie broth btw

Last night I was gonna make puy lentil stew with some nice beef sausages sliced into it but I got lazy and drank instead and then it was too late to bother. Might make some tomorrow and fridge/freeze for work.

I make mine on the simple side, without meat:

veggie stock (or chicken stock sometimes)
standard brown lentils
chopped yellow onion
a bit of garlic
some grated carrot
some chopped celery
a bay leaf or two
salt & pepper

Optional stuff:
a potato, in small cubes
some shredded spinach or similar greens

It tastes good.

still eating the lentil soup that inspired this thread and my teeth STILL HURT
wtf

I did make the puy lentil sausage casserole, with fresh thyme from the garden. It was tasty.

Thinking about how my cheese & chicken pasta doesn't make me feel as awesome at 3.30pm as lentils do, contemplating making another pot of them for this week.

Manda, did you tell your dentist that your teeth still hurt?

yeah, i'm going back today for the last part of the exciting root canal process, which i imagine is a filling? definitely breaking up with this guy.

in lentil news, i can't recommend parsley enough for a simple lentil soup. it adds so much green flavor, even after a few days. love it.

threw in 1/2 cup pastina (lil starry guys) as per side of pastina box. nice touch but not quite n/l. protip from my mom: cheese rind

i have bags of brown and red. need to make soup

RIP Pastina.

Of the Ronzoni brand anyway. Barilla lives on, I think.