Italian Red Lentil Soup
I am so hung up on this Lentil Soup recipe right now. I am chronically anemic, always battling to get my RBC count up.
I have to find way to eat more iron. Lentils have a high iron cout BUT I have never been a big fan of lentil soup. As someone who’s constantly battling anemia, I’ve always been on the hunt for iron-rich foods that actually taste good. Lentils are a fantastic source of iron, but traditional lentil soup just wasn’t cutting it for me. That’s when I had a brilliant idea: combine the comforting flavors of pasta fagioli with the nutritional power of lentils.
One of my favorite soups is Pasta fagoli, so I decided to make a pasta fagoli style soup but with lentils rather than pasta, and it turned out fantastic! I will keep eating this even after my RBC count is up.
Italian Red Lentil Soup
Ingredients
- 3 T Avocado oil
- 1 medium yellow onion –peeled and finely diced
- 2-3 large carrot – washed finely diced
- 2-3 ribs celery – finely diced
- 3 cloves garlic – finely chopped
- 1 cup dried red lentils
- 1 Can of crushed tomatoes
- 5 ½ cups Water
- 2-3 T Better than bouillon chicken
- 1 piece Parmesan rind – if you don’t have one just skip this
- 1 ½ t dried basil
- 1 ½ t dried oregano
- 1/4 t t dried rosemary
Instructions
- Add oil to a large saucepan, and over medium heat, add the diced onion, carrot and celery and sauté gently for about 5 minutes until the vegetables soften and the onion becomes translucent. Stir occasionally.
- Add the garlic and sauté for one minute. Then, add the remaining ingredients.
- Bring to the boil, then lower the heat and simmer for 30 – 40 minutes, stirring regularly, until the lentils are cooked. If the soup is too thick, add a little extra stock.
- Just before serving, add the chopped parsley and stir well. Ladle the soup into bowls, discarding the parmesan rind. Drizzle with extra virgin olive oil and serve with grated Parmesan.
