Lentil and Red Pepper Soup

As soon as the weather gets cool, I am ready for soup.  I pretty much love all kinds of soups, but this tomato based lentil soup is one of my favorites.  Whenever I have soup though, I think back to a soup I tried years ago at the urging of a friend…(cue the harp music and wavy, fuzzy lines as we go back in time…)

Many years ago, my husband, mother, brother, sister and two family friends signed up for a trip through England, Ireland and Scotland, or as we like to refer to it, the never-to-be-repeated trip through hell.

My mother, determined to literally see everything, had us all up at the crack of dawn and dragged us to every nook and cranny of each and every country, “Look, there is a replica of a reproduction of a recreation of a ship that they think was built in 1207 to sail down the Thames but sank before they even put it into the water.  It’s only 2 tube transfers and 4 bus rides away.  Let’s go!”

Then there was our friend who determined that we should eat everything “local”.  “I’ve heard they make a pie out of wilted cabbage and rotten tomatoes that are fried in sixteen pounds of lard and topped with 8000 calories worth of heavy cream that is a must-try!  Let’s go!”

Between the grueling schedule and the food, some of us were not feeling particularly well by the time we got to Ireland, our last stop.

We ended up at a castle that was not exactly as advertised, but we decided to make the best of it and treat ourselves to their “gourmet” meal, which started with a nice, big bowl of mulligatawny soup.

My sister declined to order a meal, saying she was not that hungry, but the rest of us dug into what we were assured by our foodie friend was a great treat.  Not so much.

About 4 spoonfuls into the soup, my husband excused himself from the table, which we all understood after an incident earlier that week involving his bad stomach, a huge, greasy Irish breakfast and, unfortunately for Dublin, the statue of Molly Malone.

About 5 spoonfuls into the soup, our other friend excused herself.  Hmmmm.  We were starting to see a trend.

I think I made it to spoonful 6 or 7 before I felt the need to return to our room.  Exiting the dining room, I passed through the main entry hall to the grand staircase to find Tim and Mary Ann practically crawling up on their hands and knees, trying to make it to the rooms before getting sick, or passing out, or staging a revolt and overthrowing the Duke.

One by one, we all succumbed to the curse of the mulligatawny soup, except my sister, who polished off bits and pieces of everyone’s meals without so much as a hiccup.

To this day, all you have to do in our family is say, “mulligatawny” and people still grab their stomaches and groan!

Ingredients:

• 2 teaspoons olive oil
• 1  1/4 cup chopped onion
• 1  1/4 cup chopped celery
• 1  1/4 cup chopped carrot
• 4 cloves minced garlic
• 1  1/2 Tablespoons Italian seasonings
• 1 teaspoon dried parsley
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon fennel seeds, crushed if you’d like
• 1/8 teaspoon crushed red pepper
• 1 cup red wine
• 2 Tablespoons tomato paste
• 1 (32 oz) container vegetable broth
• 2 cups chopped tomatoes
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 (12oz) jar roasted red peppers, drained and chopped
• 1  1/2 cups dried green lentils, soaked in water with 1 teaspoon salt for 1 hour, then drained.

Directions:

1. Heat the olive oil in a large pot over medium high heat.  Add the onion, celery and carrot and saute for about 5- 10 minutes to soften.  Add the garlic and saute about 30 seconds.
2. Combine the Italian seasonings, parsley, salt, fennel seeds and crushed red pepper and add them all to the pot.  Sauce for 30 seconds.
3. Add the red wine, bring the ingredients to a boil and reduce the wine by half.
4. Add the tomato paste and stir well to combine.
5. Put the broth, tomatoes, bay leaves, red peppers and lentils into the pot and bring to a boil.  Cover, reduce heat and simmer for 25-35 minutes till lentils are tender. If you need to add more liquid, you can add some water.

Enjoy!