"LIVE! LIVE! LIVE! Life's a banquet, and most poor suckers are starving to death"
attributed to Mame Dennis

Monday, October 12, 2009

Soup of the Week: Lentil with Swiss Chard

     In order to properly celebrate soup season, I bought myself a new stockpot. It's stainless steel with a "good mild-steel sandwich on the bottom," as specified by Barbara Kafka in her Soup, a way of life. What better to way to christen my new toy than to experiment with a new recipe from the soup maven: chard and lentil soup.
      I was inspired by a particularly beautiful bunch of ruby chard at Countryside Produce, a wonderful local Amish shop where I get lots of great ingredients. (I'd share their website, but...)

       The seasonings harmonized well, none belting out above the choir  (even the often overpowering cilantro and cumin.) This is a wonderful, hearty soup to stock in the freezer or take to the office for lunch. The consistency was so thick, in fact, that I added water when I heated up individual servings. It also worked nicely as a bed for the other two smoked pork chops that Frankie gave us.

Lentil is a staple in my soup rotation, and I was very much looking forward to the first batch of the season. It's always fun to find variations on a much loved theme, and this wholesome soup has earned a place in my heart.


Thank you, Ms. Kafka, my sister in soup, for another wonderful recipe!

1 comment:

~~louise~~ said...

I just had the most wonderful Red Lentil Soup last night at a Middle Eastern Restaurant. I vowed to make my own it was just so tasty. I do believe I will try it with Swiss Chard. I too have an Amish farm stand right down the block in PA.

Thanks for sharing, Corinna. I need to add your blog to my blogroll so I drop in more frequently:)