Lentil Soup with Lemon, Chicken, and Mint
Perfect snowflakes didn’t flutter amidst the multi-colored tinted sky this morning. Rather more like wet, collapsed renditions of their distant cousins absorbing the thin shine of soak lining nearby streets before contact.
The wind whipped up its warning that what we have avoided in this unseasonably warm fall is no longer, the new boss is back in town to stay for a while, undisguised and often referred by the name, old man winter.
Whenever boss winter shows hierarchy in some blustering mood, I show my own type rebellion in the form of sustenance, steaming hot soup. Today’s Lentil Soup is typically hearty and if you have a notion towards Middle Eastern Cuisine you will be familiar with the commonly prepared concept of added fresh lemon juice and mint. If you are not familiar, this is a great time to settle the effects of old man winter and give a hot bowl of Lentil Soup with Lemon, Chicken, and Mint a try, you may even feel rewarded.
Lentil Soup with Lemon, Chicken, and Mint
Ingredients
- 4 Tablespoons Olive Oil
- 1 medium onion, chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, chopped
- 2 carrots, peeled and chopped
- 2 stalks celery, chopped
- 5 sprigs thyme, leaves removed and chopped fine
- 1 Pound Lentils, rinsed and sifted through removing any potential pebbles or debris
- 4 cups chicken stock, plus 1-2 cups
- 2 large chicken breast, cut into small, bite sized cubes
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more according to taste
- Juice from One fresh Lemon
- 6-8 Sprigs Fresh Mint, leaves removed from stems then chopped
- 6 mint leaves for garnish
- 1/2 lemon, thinly sliced then halved
Instructions
- On low heat add olive oil to a soup pot, cook the onions, garlic, carrots, celery, and thyme until just softened, around five minutes, topple in the lentils, stirring well with the onion mixture, around three minutes
- Pour 4 cups of the chicken stock into the lentil mixture, increase temperature and bring to a boil, reducing temperature and cook on very low heat for about an hour stirring often
- If the lentils begin to thicken add in another cup of chicken stock or more if needed
- Once lentils are soft and cooked, stir through the bite sized chicken pieces add salt, check seasoning adjust to taste, cook another ten minutes
- Pour in the fresh squeezed lemon juice and stir through
- Stir in the fresh chopped mint
- Check seasoning again, adjusting to taste
- Garnish with mint leaves and sliced lemon
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