Lentil and Kielbasa Soup

We have reached the schizophrenic period of the end of summer and beginning of fall when summer produce and fall produce are on the farm stand shelves at the same time, and it can be blistering hot during the day and chilly enough to warrant autumn flavors at night.

Crappy photo - with my apologies. I have not yet figured out optimal lighting in my new kitchen. But the soup was very good, and came together fast, and I didn't need to make a vat of it as one usually does with soup. I made two portions, one for my dinner and one for my neighbor's dinner (she is moving and I know from experience that the best feeling in the world after unpacking boxes all day is not having to cook one's first night in a new home.)

1/3 cup green or brown lentils

1 cup cubed kielbasa (I left my kielbasa in chunks and more elegantly cubed my neighbor's version and I liked hers better)

1 carrot, peeled and cut into bite sized cubes

1/2 small onion, peeled and diced

1 tsp olive oil

1 bay leaf

Salt and pepper to taste

Heat the oil in a sauce pan over medium heat until shimmering.

Add the onion, carrot, kielbasa and bay leaf and cook, stirring often, until the onion is translucent and the kielbasa has rendered off a lot of its fat.

Lower the heat and stir in the lentils to combine with the other ingredients.

Add two and a half cups of water to the mixture. Stir again and cover.

Cook over low for 18 minutes.

Check the soup to see if the lentils are cooked through and add salt and pepper to taste at this time. In some cases your lentils may have absorbed more water than expected, in which case you should add a quarter to half a cup of additional water to the soup at this time.

If the lentils are not cooked, cook for an additional few minutes until they are the texture that you prefer. I like my lentils tender at the center but still with some give, I do not like them mushy, which is how many people prefer them.

Remove the bay leaf, ladle into a soup bowl and enjoy. You could add a glug of red wine to this soup before you added the water in order to cook off the alcohol, which would add further depth to the broth which is surprisingly tasty despite having so few ingredients. I stirred in a dollop of mustard (the yellow blob to the left of the photo above) because I like kielbasa with mustard. It was good, but not necessary.