Sunday Lunch

When the over-indulgences of the season start taking their toll on your body and spirit, I say the best remedy is to get in the kitchen and make some healing soup.  The hub and I may or may not have been feeling a bit rough around the edges this fine Sunday morning, and I knew we needed something to soothe our stomachs and souls and give us the energy to proceed with the Sunday we have planned, massive honey-do list and all.  So, while he ran to Home Depot this morning, I threw together this soup.  We sat down to steaming bowls at noontime, and he proclaimed this to be one of my best soups ever.  It's also a fitting soup for the pre-holiday weekend, with the combination of red lentils and green currry (although the resulting soup is a more Halloween-like orange color).  Try it... it will cure what ails you and get you feeling holly jolly once more!

Behold... our lunch date/Christmas dinner brainstorming sesh.

Christmas Curry Soup
Ingredients
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 leek, chopped
3 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
2 large carrots, peeled and chopped
1 large sweet potato, peeled and chopped
1 lb red lentils
4 cups chicken or veggie broth
1 can light coconut milk
2 heaping teaspoons Thai green curry paste
2 heaping teaspoons or brown or turbinado sugar (this balances the heat of the curry)
Salt to taste
Directions
1) Heat the oil in a large soup pot or Dutch oven.  Add the leeks and garlic and saute until the leeks are tender, about 8 minutes.
2) Add the sweet potato and carrots, stir to combine, saute gently for 5 minutes, stirring often.
3) Add the lentils, broth, coconut milk, curry paste, sugar and salt.
4) Simmer, covered, until the sweet potatoes and carrots are tender and the lentils are cooked through, about 30 minutes.  At this point, you could serve the soup as is, and it will be delicious, rustic and chunky.  However, I went ahead and pureed my soup with an immersion blender before serving, and it really took it to the next level; the soup is creamy, thick, and somehow more sophisticated than your average lentil dish.  Either way is a winner. 

Sunday soup makes it all better.