Early Fall Beef Lentil Soup With Greens

Came up with this recipe to use up a sirloin tip roast from the toughest old steer who graced this earth! I realized after simmering the soup 30 minutes I had to write this one down because the lovely deep brown color & heady smell had folks circling the stove (this was before the lentils were added). I used 5 cups of shredded kale I had on hand, but will make with spinach, mustard or turnip greens next time - depends on what I've got on hand. I recommend any tough leftover beef - simmering transformed Ferdinand nicely! Served with Irish Oatmeal bread using steelcut oats from Recipezaar - yum!

• Ready In: 1 hr 50 mins
• Serves: 8

Ingredients

• 1  lb roast beef, leftover
• 2  tablespoons olive oil
• 1 1⁄2 onions, chopped
• 3  garlic cloves, chopped
• 2  carrots, chopped
• 1  bell pepper, chopped
• 2  celery ribs, chopped
• 1  tomatoes, chopped
• 14 1⁄2 ounces  petite diced tomatoes
• 1  teaspoon thyme
• 5  teaspoons  beef base
• 64  ounces water
• 2  cups green lentils
• 5  cups greens, chopped

Directions

1. Dice leftover meat to 1/2 inch cubes.
2. In a heavy bottomed kettle, add olive oil, onion, garlic, celery & thyme. Saute several minutes until onion translucent & thyme aromatic.
3. Add carrots, green pepper & tomatos (no worries if no fresh available - I just had it in fridge & it was looking lonely).
4. Add Beef beef stock base & saute on low for 25 minutes until base & onions caramelize. Skip beef base if using beef broth instead of base & water.
5. Add water & simmer for 45 minutes - lid off.
6. Add lentils & simmer 30 minutes more.
7. Add chopped greens of your choice & simmer 20 minutes more - less for spinach, more for robuster greens, but low heat to avoid off-flavors from stronger greens.
8. Season to taste with salt & pepper.