Sunday Super Soup

Here is a master recipe for a soup you really don’t need a recipe for. For the bones of it, you start with a mirepoix (chopped onion, carrot and celery), then add spices, lentils, tomato and water, simmer a while, add leafy greens and simmer a few more minutes. The whole thing takes about an hour, or even less.

It’s delicious and super healthful, easy and quicker than you’d think in its basic form, but you can riff on it infinitely, adding all kinds of produce, dried or fresh mushrooms, leftover cooked vegetables, herbs, salad greens, etc. etc. Read more about that, along with more things we love about the soup, in our story. Don’t be put off by the deceptively long ingredient list as fully half of them are optional, designed to use up stuff in your fridge.

For the ground cumin and ground coriander seed, it’s best to use whole seeds and grind them in a spice grinder or with a mortar and pestle; toast them first in a pan until fragrant, if you like.

Serves from 1 (for two or three weeks) to a giant crowd.

Ingredients

2 to 3 tablespoons olive oil, grapeseed oil, canola oil or other cooking oil

1/2 cup to 2 cups diced onion

2 to 6 diced carrots