You know those days when you come home from work, you're too tired to battle the grocery store, and there's seemingly nothing to eat in your cupboards? Panic sets in, you open the fridge and cupboards over and over again, expecting some miracle to appear. Inevitably, those same, sad ingredients stare you back in the face... a bag of carrots begging for moisture, a wilting stalk of celery, a sad loaf of soon-to-be-molding bread... AAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!! Call me crazy, but I love those kind of food challenges. The reality is that most of us don't have the time to climb these kind of mountains, so I've come up with a recipe that's simple and easy and can be made with many of those ingredients that we normally don't think of as exciting.
Lentil soup with red wine and garlic croutons
2 cups dried lentils
3 1/2 cups broth (2 garlic boullion, 2 veggie, 2 cups water)
1/2 cup red wine (cabernet sauvignon is a good choice)
3 carrots - chopped
3 celery stalks - chopped
1/2 tsp celery salt
1 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
salt and pepper to taste
Combine all ingredients together, bring to a boil on medium heat, then let simmer for 20-30 minutes or until the lentils are softened and have a velvety texture.
For the croutons , chop up some old baguette into small bite size pieces. Drizzle with garlic infused olive oil (if you don't have any, chop up some garlic cloves and let sit with olive oil in a bowl until the oil begins to taste of garlic) salt and pepper to taste and toss into a 375 degree oven for 10-12 minutes. Be sure to shake the croutons 1/2 way through to be sure they don't burn.
Serve with croutons on the top and garnish with a bit of fresh parsley.
Enjoy!!
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