Chef Joey's Red Lentil Soup

I am always looking for something different for my DH and myself to eat during the long chilly days of winter. We both love soup and today I came up with this recipe. It is such a gorgeous red soup. It is so tasty and very hardy, a real stick to your ribs type of meal. This would be great served with some hummus and a nice warm piece of flat bread on the side. :-) If you use soy sour cream and veggie soup broth you can make this vegan.

• Ready In: 41 mins
• Serves: 8

Ingredients

• 2  tablespoons olive oil
• 1  large onion, chopped fine (2 cups)
• 3  garlic cloves, minced (1 tbsp.)
• 1 1⁄2 cups red lentils
• 2  tablespoons ground cumin
• 1 (15 ounce) can  chopped tomatoes with juice
• 1  tablespoon  agave nectar (honey is good too)
• 3  bay leaves
• 7  cups chicken broth or 7  cups vegetable broth
• 1  tablespoon red wine vinegar
• 1⁄4 cup sour cream (or plain yogurt)

Directions

1. Heat the olive oil in a large soup pot. I used my large cast iron dutch oven.
2. Add the chopped onion and garlic and saute until soft.
3. Stir in the lentils and cumin and cook for one minute or until you can smell the cumin and the lentils are well coated.
4. Stir in the agave (or honey), bay leaves and 7 cups of soup broth and being to a boil.
5. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
6. Cover the soup and reduce heat to medium low and simmer for 20 minutes or until the lentils are soft and falling apart and soup has thickened up.
7. Then add the canned tomatoes and continue to cook for another 15 minutes. The tomatoes have an inhibiting affect on the lentils softening.
8. You can add a little more soup broth to thin the soup if it is too thick.
9. When done remove bay leaves, stir in the wine vinegar, and serve with dollops of sour cream or yogurt.
10. Bon Appetit!