He never drank water, he always drank wine

From the Recipe Box

This week's recipe is also of unknown provenance to me, although I suspect it was my Oma's and came from a friend or family member. It's another one we ate regularly growing up (what can I say, winter brings out the home-y instincts in me) and that I've adapted a bit to what we tend to have on hand.

Lentil Soup (it really comes out more like a stew)

4 strips of bacon

1 medium onion, chopped

3 carrots, chopped

1/2 teaspoon celery seed (the original calls for 1/2 cup celery, which you can certainly use instead)

1 quart tomatoes

1 cup lentils

1 pound ground pork (the original recipe calls for 1/4 pound sausage, which is also delicious), browned

2 1/2 cups water

1 teaspoon basil

1 teaspoon marjoram

1 tablespoon sugar

1 bay leaf

salt and pepper, to taste

Fry bacon and set aside. Cook onion, carrots and celery seed (or celery, if using) in bacon grease until tender. Add tomatoes, lentils, cooked meat/sausage, water, and spices and bring to a boil. Lower to a simmer and cook, covered, for about 1 hour (or until lentils are cooked).

This soup is delicious and I highly recommend it, but I will admit that it has come out a bit blah sometimes this winter. I think our tomatoes are a bit more watery this year and kind of diffused things. In the future, I might try adding stock instead of water and or adding some spices (fennel, cumin, etc.) to make it taste like I had added sausage instead of plain ground pork. On the other side of the spectrum, it's easily made vegetarian. You could make it as described (sans meat, obviously) or add potatoes to give it a little extra volume. I would recommend being a bit more adventurous in the spice department (garam masala? curry?), to make it a bit more exciting too.