Curried Mushroom Lentil Soup

Today was an uneventful day.  Great, but non-eventful day at work.  Excellent, but non-descript workout.  Delicious, but not made by me whole wheat pasta and homemade marinara sauce for dinner.

However, on Sunday I created a Curried Mushroom Lentil Soup, and it was delicious :)

As you may have read in my Commitments for 2011 post, one of my commitments this year is to either create or make a new recipe each week for the entire year.

So, without further ado, I give you Curried Mushroom Lentil Soup:Measure out 6 cups of mushroom stock (I added 2 more cups to the 4 that you see in the picture).   Pour it into your crockpot, or large pot that you’re using.  Ignore the SOS pad in the background.  Not very appetizing, but man do they work!  Don’t ignore the glorious sun streaming in the window onto my measuring cup :) Dice your onion.  Note that I only used one of these onions. Dice your celery, and once again, note that I only used one of the stalks.

Chopped and ready for your pan.  Notice the bite out of the remaining celery stock.  Hey, a girls’ gotta eat ;)

Add to a pan with your olive oil at medium heat and cover. Chop your mushrooms and add to the pan.  Also add the garlic and mix together.  Be sure to keep covered to allow the celery and onions to soften and absorb the olive oil flavour.When vegetables are at desired softness (slightly translucent), add the curry powder.  This may seem like a lot of curry powder, but with the amount of liquid, it needs it.  In fact, Todd isn’t a curry fan (I’m trying my best to convert him) and absolutely loved and devoured the soup.  So it couldn’t have been too curry-y… real word – I swear!

And add the Italian seasoning.  I know that the thought of curry and Italian seasoning sounds a bit schizophrenic, but I think it pairs excellently.  Stir altogether, until spices are completely incorporated into the rest of the mixture.  

Add to your stock in the crockpot.Next, add in the cooked shredded pork (can easily be omitted for a vegetarian version).Add your lentils.  Lentils don’t need to be soaked, but be sure to look through them to make sure there are no bad ones, or *eek* stones.

For a bit of creaminess and tang, add your Greek yogurt.

For an extra colour to the palette and extra fibre, add in the black beans.   Stir, stir, stir.Add a few turns of cracked black pepper – we love lots.    And I just want to note that the colour of the soup was before 2 of the cups of mushroom stock and 2 cups of water.  It kinda looks like broccoli cheese soup here – lol!Add crushed red pepper flakes for a teeny bit of heat.  This doesn’t make it ‘hot,’ so if you like HEAT, add more; and if you don’t, don’t add any. I love pearl barley in most of my soups and couldn’t resist adding it for some chewiness.

Everyone into the pool!  Also be sure to add in your water, otherwise, it’ll be closer to a stoup (a la Rachael Ray) than a soup.  And once it’s done cooking, you still may need to add more water or stock – that’s those lentils for you!

Recipe number one for the year!  The part in brackets is where it’s from.  In this case, I created this one, I didn’t follow a recipe.  I figure that if I write it on the calendar, I’ll be able to see it everyday and I really hope that I complete the challenge!  Speaking of the calendar, it is a Heart and Stroke Lottery Calendar that I got for Christmas.  There are lottery draws each and every day of the year.  Great present!

The finished product – yum!  The lentils tend to sink, so you don’t really see them…

Todd enjoyed his with a few cheese and garlic croutons, and again this sounds slightly confused; but the sharp garlic flavour really sets the soup off.       I enjoyed mine with a well-deserved glass of wine :)

Curried Mushroom Lentil Soup

• 6 cups of Mushroom stock
• 1 medium Onion, diced
• 1 Celery stalk, diced
• 2 large Button Mushrooms, chopped
• 1 tsp Olive Oil
• 6 tsp Yellow Curry Powder
• 1 tsp Italian Seasoning
• 2 cloves of Minced Garlic
• 3/4 cup Shredded Cooked Pork
• 1 cup Lentils
• 2/3 cup Greek Yogurt
• 1 cup Black Beans, drained and rinsed
• 1/2 cup Pearl Barley
• 1/4 – 1/2 tsp Crushed Red Pepper Flakes
• 2 cups Water
• Cracked Black Pepper to taste

1. In a crockpot, add your mushroom stock.
2. Finely chop your celery and onion and add to a pan with your olive oil, over medium heat.  Cover.
3. Chop your mushrooms.  Add the mushrooms and minced garlic to your pan and cook until tender (approximately, 6-8 minutes).
4. When vegetable mixture is tender, add curry powder and Italian seasoning, incorporating well.  Add to stock.
5. In crockpot, add shredded pork, Greek yogurt, black beans, pearl barley, crushed red pepper flakes and water.
6. Add a few turns of cracked black pepper to taste and stir together.
7. Place in crockpot on high for 4-6 hours, or low for 6-8 hours
8. Enjoy!