Sausage and Lentil Soup
Ingredients
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 pound Italian sausage (mild or hot, depending on preference), casings removed
1 carrot or a handful of baby carrots, diced
2 stalks celery, diced
1 large onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
8 cups chicken broth (This is a great way to use leftover chicken broth from your slow cooker chickens!)
2 cans whole tomatoes (Cans are somewhere in the 14-16 ounce range, chopped tomatoes are fine too)
2 cups dried lentils, rinsed and checked for small stones
1⁄2 teaspoon salt
3⁄4 teaspoon black pepper
1⁄2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1⁄2 teaspoon dried oregano
1⁄2 teaspoon dried thyme
1 bay leaf
Instructions
1. In a large pot (or Dutch oven), heat oil over medium-high heat. Add sausage and brown, breaking up large pieces with a wooden spoon. Remove sausage from pot, leaving fat, and drain on paper towels.
2. Add carrot, celery, onion and garlic to pot and sauté over medium-high heat until tender. Return sausage to pot.
3. Add chicken broth to the pot. Open both cans of tomatoes and crush any large pieces with your hands before adding to the pot. Add all remaining ingredients. Reduce heat and simmer until the lentils are tender, about 30-45 minutes.
4. Remove bay leaf and discard. Remove 1⁄3 of the soup and puree it using an immersion blender or a regular blender, then return it to the pot and mix well. Taste for seasonings, adjust if necessary, and serve.
Comments
At the beginning of the year I had the pleasure of helping my parents out for a few weeks while my dad recovered from knee replacement surgery. Obviously major surgery wasn’t the pleasure, but I’m eternally grateful that I’ve got a relationship with my parents that makes things like this a joy. One of my “duties” was to make dinner every night and have it ready when my mom got home from work.
My dad didn’t have many requests for food during his recovery, but one thing he did have a craving for was “soup like the sausage and lentil soup at Carrabba’s.” Thankfully the internet is full of copycat recipes, so it wasn’t too difficult to find a few that I could play with to come up with this recipe.
Then it turned out so well that when I got back home that weekend I made it again! Now it’s a favorite, especially when the weather is wet and dreary.
Shown here with Bread Machine Sweet Potato Bread.
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