Italian Lentil Soup (with parsnips and carrots...)

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I found this soup at the great blog Anne's Food. I have to say I agree with Anne though, I'm not quite sure what makes it Italian... In fact I would like to go even further and say I don't think the Lentil part is a good name either. Sure there's lentils in it but they are no way the main feature or main flavour. If being in the soup is enough to give it the name it might as well be called parsnip soup or carrot soup or potato soup. I guess if I got to name it I would have rather named it Carrot parsnip lentil soup.

Any way. The name doesn't really matter does it. What matter is that this soup was delicious and filling. Yet another soup that has been a regular on our menu this winter.

Ingredients:
1 onion
1 garlic clove
2-3 carrots
2 parsnips
3 potatoes
½ cup (100 ml) red lentils
2.5 oz. (70 g) bacon (I doubled this, what can I say we like bacon...)
3.5 cups (800 ml) vegetable stock
3/4 cup (200 ml) milk
cup (100 ml) cream
1 tsp dried thyme
2 bay leaves
salt, pepper
butter

Chop onion and garlic. Peel the carrots, parsnips and potatoes, and cut into coins and dice, respectively. Cut the bacon into strips.

Fry the bacon in a dry frying pan until it's lightly browned. Add some butter and the onions, garlic, carrots and parsnips. Fry for five minutes, then add lentils and potatoes. Fry for a few more minutes, then add water, stock, thyme and bay leaves.

Cover and cook for about 20 minutes, until all the vegetables are soft. Add milk and cream, and season with salt and pepper.

Carrot soup

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I've had this recipe saved on my computer for about a year. I've made it several times and both me and J love it. I wanted to blog about it but couldn't remember where I had found it (stupid me saved it in my Google docs and didn't add the source) and I didn't want to claim it as mine. I knew it was somewhere online, most likely on a blog but not a food blog (as I wasn't really reading any food blogs a year ago). After lots of searching I FINALLY managed to find my source so here it is for you to enjoy!

Adapted from Stinkerpants.com

Ingredients:
2 pounds carrot, peeled and chopped
4 cups chicken or vegetable stock
1 medium potato, chopped (optional, for heartier soup)
3-4 tablespoons butter
1 cup chopped onion
1-2 small cloves crushed garlic
1/3 cup chopped cashews or almonds or peanuts
(chicken)

Choose one:
1 cup milk
1 cup yogurt or buttermilk plus a little honey
1/2 pint heavy cream
3/4 cup sour cream (or creme fraiche)

Seasoning choices:
-2 pinches of nutmeg, 1/2 teaspoon dried mint, dash of cinnamon
-1 teaspoon each of thyme, marjoram and basil
-1 teaspoon grated ginger

Place carrots, potato and stock in a medium sized stock pot and bring to a boil. Cover and simmer it for 12-15 minutes or until carrots are soft.

In a pan saute onions, garlic and nuts in butter. Towards the end of cooking, stir in the seasoning combo of your choice. Add the onion mix to the soup and puree everything with an immersion blender or a regular blender until smooth. Finally whisk in one of the dairy products.

* I've only tried the nutmeg-mint-cinnamon seasoning but I'm sure the other options are just as good. I usually use chicken stock though vegetable would work just as well and make it suitable for vegetarians. On the other hand if you really want to make sure it's non-veg you can add some shredded chicken when serving :)

Roasted Pepper Soup

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Another recipe I got from ICA Maxi via my mother. Really quick and easy yet super yummy. Serve as dinner with some bread or as an appetizer.

Serves 4 (for dinner more as an appetizer)

Ingredients:
1 (red) onion
3 tomatoes
1 can (17 oz - 500 g) roasted red bell peppers or 4-5 fresh peppers roast them yourself
3 ½ cup vegetable stock ( 800 ml water + 2 cubes of vegetable stock)
olive oil
(fresh) thyme
salt and pepper

crème fraîche or sour cream
fresh herbs of your choice

Directions:
Cut tomatoes, onion and the roasted peppers in smaller pieces. Fry veggies in some olive oil in a pot or dutch oven. Add vegetable stock and thyme and boil for 10 minutes. With an immersion blender mix until smooth. Salt and pepper to taste.
Mix crème fraîche with herbs of your choice (I used thyme and some sage).
Serve soup with a dollop of the herb crème fraîche and some bread.

Potato soup

. Sorry for the picture, soup just doesn't photograph well.

We love this soup, quick and easy for a weekday yet so yummy. Serve it with some nice bread and a whipped butter and you have yourself a bit of a gourmet dinner on a rainy Tuesday.

The original recipe calls for heavy cream but I usually make it with crème fraîche or sour cream. Most times I only add lime juice but last time I made it I had some white wine left from making risotto so I added that at the same time as the stock.

Ingredients:
2 lbs (900g) potatoes
1 leek
6 ½ cup (1.5 L) stock (chicken or vegetable)
3/4 - 1 cup crème fraîche (or sour cream or cream)
2 Tbsp lime juice
(1/4 cup (50 ml) white wine)
1 pkg bacon
pepper

Slice leek and fry in some oil. Peel and cut potatoes into smaller pieces and add to the leeks. Add the stock and boil for about 10 minutes or until soft. Cut the bacon in small pieces and fry in a pan. Remove the pot from the heat and mix with handmixer. Add limejuice and crème fraîche and bring to a quick boil again. Sprinkle bacon bits on top and serve.

Adapted from Buffé Feb 2009.