A soup that I crave year round, but crave in these quiet, cozy weeks between holidays most of all. It’s healthy, hearty, and bright. Basically it’s fall sunshine in a bowl.

Red lentil soup

Olive oil
1 white onion, diced
2 carrots, diced
5 cloves minced garlic
8 cups veggie or chicken stock
2 cups red lentils
1 cup corn
2 teaspoons cumin
1 teaspoon curry powder
zest and juice of 1 lemon
salt and freshly-cracked black pepper, to taste.

Heat oil in a Dutch oven or other soup pot over medium-high heat. Add onion and carrots and sauté until the onions are soft and translucent. Add garlic and sauté for 1 more minute or so, stirring occasionally.

Stir in the stock, lentils, corn, cumin, curry powder. Continue cooking until the soup reaches a simmer. Then cover and cook for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the lentils are completely tender.

At this point, you can either blend the soup or not. I always do using an immersion blender, but you could use a regular blender too. Or just eat it as is! All equally yum.

Next, stir in the lemon zest and juice until combined. Taste and season the soup with a generous pinch or two of salt (I prefer Kosher) and black pepper.

Serve with a squeeze of lemon, grind of pepper, sprinkling of shaved warm, and a couple slices of fresh sourdough.