Spiced Lentil Soup

Serves:

Ingredients:

3 tb Olive oil
2 tb Unsalted butter
1 Onion, chopped
2 Carrots, diced
2 Ribs celery, diced
1 Green bell pepper, cored,
-seeded and diced
1 sm "waxy" boiling potato,
-peeled and diced
1 ts Ground cumin
1 ts Ground pure chili powder
3/4 ts Ground allspice
1 sm Imported bay leaf and 5
-sprigs parsley
Tied together with kitchen
-string
1/2 lb Lentils, picked over
6 c Chicken broth
Salt
Freshly-ground black pepper

Method:

Place the olive oil, butter, and onion in a soup kettle, set over low heat and cook until the onion has softened, about 5 to 7 minutes.
Increase the heat to medium, add the carrots and stir-cook for 1 minute.
Add the celery and stir-cook for 1 minute.
Add the green pepper and stir-cook for 1 minute.
Add the diced potato, cumin, chili powder, and allspice; stir-cook for 1 minute.
Add the herb bundle, lentils, and chicken broth; bring to a boil, then boil for 1 minute.
Cover and simmer for about 1 hour, or until the lentils are tender.
The soup may be prepared in advance up to this point.
) Season the soup with salt and fresh pepper to taste and discard the parsley-bay leaf bundle.
Ladle the soup into warm bowls and serve steaming hot.
Makes 4 to 5 servings.
[WASHINGTON POST JAN 11, 1989] Posted by Fred Peters.