Sausage, Kale, and Lentil Soup
A sweet and hearty recipe!
This recipe is the result of a brain much too preoccupied with soup! (Seriously though we’ve had soup at least twice a week for a month or two.) I followed the basic rules of soup making and used what we had in the fridge one slow night to come up with my own recipe, and this has now become one of our favorite of favorites! It’s hearty and a little sweet and perfect for this time of year. The first time we ate this meal we had homemade sourdough and glasses of white wine and as we let the food settle, my husband read a book to me. Baby was sleeping. It was lovely.
Usually, I would include pictures but the night I intended to cook and take pictures of the meal, I ended up dictating to my husband how to make the soup as I had a crippling migraine. So, enjoy this uncluttered no fuss description of Sausage, Kale, and Lentil Soup.
2 oz butter or olive oil
½ yellow onion diced
3 ribs celery diced
1 can of tomato paste (6 oz)
2 tablespoons flour
2 32oz cartons of chicken broth
1 package of lentils or 3 cans of lentils
1 package of apple smoked sausages (6 total)
Two or three handfuls of kale
1.    Melt butter or olive oil on medium heat in saucepan in pot.
2.    As butter melts dice 3 ribs of celery and ½ yellow onion.
3.    Cook veggies in butter until translucent.
4.    Add 6oz can of tomato paste and stir until incorporated.
5.    Add 2 tbs flour and stir until no lumps are left.
6.    Add both cartons of chicken broth. Stir until the tomato paste mixture is soft and no longer clumpy.
7.    Add lentils and stir to break up – (especially important if using a package).
8.    While the soup is simmering, slice your sausage into quarter-size pieces and fry until brown in a separate pan.
9.    Add sausage to soup and stir
.
10. Add 2-3 handfuls, or more, of kale and stir.
11. Done! I like to serve this soup with homemade bread and white wine.
Tips: Trader Joe’s sells a vacuum pack of lentils that works perfectly with this recipe. However, if you are like me, you don’t live close to a Trader Joe’s… tragic. But canned lentils from your local grocery store work great too!
The sausage selection is really up to the cook, I like apple smoked best and get a great little package from Publix. However, I imagine spicy sausage would taste great too and would add a little extra compliment to this mostly sweet recipe.