Lentil and Sausage Soup

I recently had a blog friend ask me to write down what I serve with the meals I put on here. Good idea! So I will start doing that. I guess it might help with meal planning. With this soup, I served just a plain ol' green salad. Nothing too fancy. Romaine, cucumber, tomatoes, sliced almonds. We have green salad a lot. This soup can stand on it's own two feet. It doesn't need a fancy side dish as a supporting roll. Who ever thought lentils could taste so good? I guess you could assume that they would when they are paired with sausage. What doesn't taste good with sausage? I'll bet I even taste good with a little bit of sausage.



7 cups water
3 1/2 cups chicken stock
1 2/3 cup lentils, rinsed well
2 bay leaves
4 cloves garlic, divided
2 Tbsp olive oil
5 links mild Italian sausage
1 onion, diced
2 celery ribs, diced
Kosher salt and pepper
2 Tbsp tomato paste

In a large pot, combine water, chicken stock, lentils, bay leaves and 2 garlic cloves. Bring to a boil and simmer, uncovered, for 20 minutes.

In a large skillet over medium high, heat olive oil. Brown the sausage on each side, about 5 minutes on each side. Set aside in a bowl and allow to cool.

In the same skillet, turn the heat down to medium. Add the remaining 2 garlic cloves, onion and celery. Season with salt and pepper. Cook garlic, onions and celery until softened, about 5 minutes. Add the tomato paste and cook until incorporated, about 2 minutes.

Add the onion and celery mixture to the lentils. Stir until the onions and celery are distributed. Bring to a simmer, uncovered.

On a cutting board, slice the sausage lengthwise. Chop into small pieces and add to the soup. Stir and simmer uncovered until the lentils are completely softened, about 10 minutes.

Yields 6 servings.