What’s for Dinner? Garlic Sausage and Lentil Soup

By Caitlin Klein in Food on Feb 1, 2011 8:00PM

When you buy lentils, it is important to spread them out on a plate to remove any pebbles or debris.

Chop your onions and carrots to a size you like; some people prefer a chunkier soup, while others like a smoother, more uniform texture.

You can use regular or turkey sausage in this recipe.

Removing sausage casings is easy, and not perverted in any way.

Welcome to the snowed-in edition of our What’s for Dinner series. Here’s a recipe for a hearty, filling soup that you can eat again and again. So quit googling “cat meat recipes” for fear of starvation - even if you can’t leave the house for a couple of days, you’ll have something to eat.

Chicagoist’s Garlic Sausage and Lentil Soup

Ingredients
Hot Italian sausage (16 ounces, more or less - substituting turkey sausage is just fine)
1 onion, coarsely chopped
2 large carrots, coarsely chopped
6 cloves of garlic, peeled and minced
32 ounces can of diced tomatoes
6 cups beef broth
8 ounces lentils (go through and pick out any pebbles or debris)
Thyme to taste
Salt & Pepper to taste
Parmesan cheese (optional)

Directions
· As if you weren’t lonely enough, the first thing you have to do is peel the casing off the sausage. There are lots of ways to do this, and none of them are wrong. We like to snip off the end, peel back the casing, and push the sausage out like a tube of toothpaste. You could also just ask your meat guy for his uncased sausage, but we can’t promise that will end well. Or will it?
· Brown the sausage and set aside in a bowl. Reserve the pan drippings.
· In the same pan, use the reserved drippings to sauté the onion and carrots until they’re soft. It’ll take about 8-10 minutes. During the last two minutes, toss in the garlic. You don’t want to do this too early, or the garlic will become bitter.
· In your soup pot, start the beef broth and thyme to heat on high. Add the sausage and vegetable mixture. Add the canned tomatoes. Add the lentils last and bring the whole mixture up to a boil. Once you have it rolling, reduce to a simmer. Cover and let simmer for 45 minutes, or until the lentils are tender.

Serve up hot in bowls, top with cheese, and get some crusty bread to round out the meal.