San’s Winter Soup

San posted a recipe the other day for a thick and creamy winter vegetable stew, and I immediately changed my menu plans for the week to include it. She found the recipe here, and simplified it and said we should all make it our own, so I looked at the original, looked at hers, and made a few changes. The original is a crock pot/slow cooker meal, and San has adapted it for the stovetop. I am a stove pot girl, I don’t have a crock pot, so I appreciated her changes. This is a tasty stew/soup, and San’s pictures are a lot nicer than mine. My changes from San’s were that I used Herbs du Province, I added a Parmesan rind to the soup, and I added some vinegar and Parmesan at the end. Kind of a combination of San’s recipe and the original.

Ingredients:

• 1 onion (chopped)
• 3 large carrots (peeled and sliced)
• 5–6 small potatoes (cubed)
• 1 bunch celery stalks (chopped) (I didn’t have any celery – I thought I had some in my freezer, but I didn’t, so I used 1 tsp of celery salt instead of the celery and the salt)
• 1 cup green lentils
• 1 cup split peas
• 20 oz butternut squash (peeled and cubed) (recipe calls for 12 oz, I had a package of 20 oz)
• 32 oz vegetable broth (I used chicken broth because I had some in the fridge from a roasted chicken we had last week)
• 32 oz water (Nope, I used the rest of the chicken broth)
• 2 tsp soffrito or Italian herbs (I used Herbs du Province)
• 1 Parmesan rind
• 1 tsp salt (or more to taste) (I used celery salt)

Add at the end:

• 2–3 cups chopped kale (at least, I used the plastic tub of baby kale at the store.)
• 1/4 cup Parsley (chopped)
• 1/2 cup of olive oil (this seemed weird to me. DO NOT SKIP IT. So tasty.)
• Maybe 1 or 2 tblsp of red wine vinegar (I love this with lentil stews/soups – it really brightens things up.)

Instructions:

1. Sauté the onion for a few minutes, then add the carrots, potatoes, and celery (if you have it). Season with salt and herbs du Provence and sauté for 5 minutes.
2. I have a little toaster oven, so I toasted my butternut squash now, with a little olive oil, salad and pepper. You can just dump yours in the soup in the next step if you want.
3. Add the lentils, peas, Parmesan rind and butternut squash, and give it a good stir. Then add the vegetable/chicken broth and fill up with water. (I didn’t need any water, I had enough broth.)
4. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and let simmer on low heat for about 90 minutes, until the mixture has thickened into a creamy stew.
5. Remove Parmesan rind.
6. Finally, stir in the kale, olive oil, and parsley, and simmer for an additional 5 minutes until the kale is wilted. Add the vinegar, it really brightens things up.

Thanks San, for the help during NaBloPoMo when I have zero blogging time, so I can copy you and make a few changes! Everyone, this soup is really good!