Within the past few weeks, I made Lentil Soup with Sausage and Kale. The soup sounded hearty and warming during our recent cold snap when winter told St. Louis that spring was farther away than we hoped.
I only made a few changes to the recipe. I used a pound of bulk sweet Italian sausage that grocery stores in St. Louis (or maybe it's just Schnucks) sell. I cut out the oil added to the soup - after all, sausage renders plenty of fat - and hardly used the garlic oil I made. (It's going to be added to focaccia whenever I make it again.) I added all of the kale that I bought to go in the soup, rather than restricting it to 3-4 cups.
The soup was pretty easy to make. Brown sausage; add diced vegetables until softened; add lentils, tomatoes, bay leaves, water, salt, and pepper; cover and simmer until lentils are done; and add kale to wilt. It takes a little time for the lentils to cook (about 40 minutes), but it's hands-off time - I took the time to sit down and read for a little while.
I forgot to take a picture of the soup when we ate it - every single time. But I can tell you that it looked like Deb's pictures of the soup did - rich and red and earthy.
I'm not always a huge fan of sausage, but I was pleasantly surprised by this soup. It was warming and hearty. Alex and I thought that about a pound of sausage was the right amount for this soup - it flavored the soup well. The flavor was strong enough that the kale wasn't too bitter for it. This is one of the few lentil soups that I've actually enjoyed, and I think that's due to the flavor the sausage gave the broth.
All in all, this was a great soup to make. The ingredients are inexpensive; the recipe, easy to make; and the soup itself, satisfying. It's definitely a recipe worth trying.
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