Lentil Sausage Soup

Lentil Soup, Green Lentil Soup, Sausage Soup

Lentil sausage soup is a hearty, wholesome meal with some bread on the side. This is one of those soups you will be going back to on cold Fall & Winter nights.

Course Dinner

Cuisine American

Servings

Calories 508kcal

Author Usha Rao

Ingredients

½ cup French Green Lentils
1 Bay Leaf opt
1 Olive Oil divided
1 ½ - 2 Sausages made with garlic and/or herbs I used uncooked garlic herb pork sausage
1 small Yellow Onion diced
2 Cloves Garlic finely chopped
2 cups Chicken or Beef or Pork stock I used pork stock that I made for Hungarian Clear Soup
1 stalk Celery sliced to ¾” pieces or ⅓ - ½ cup sliced Celery
½ tablespoon dried Marjoram Can use fresh marjoram
2 - 3 small Carrots peeled and sliced to ¾ - 1” slices or ⅓ - ½ cups sliced Carrots
1 ½ tablespoon Ketchup
1 cup chopped Spinach
2 tablespoon chopped Cilantro
½ teaspoon Salt adjust to taste
⅛ teaspoon Pepper Powder adjust to taste
Red Wine Vinegar to taste

Instructions

Cooking Green Lentils

Put 2 ½ - 3 cups of water to boil. Wash green lentils several times in cold water. Take the lentils in a saucepan and cook with 2 - 2½ cups of hot water. If water is not boiling that is ok. Cook lentils on medium heat until tender. Keep an eye on the lentils and keep stirring in between. It will take at least 15 - 20 minutes for the lentils to cook.

Cooking Sausage

When using uncooked sausage, cook as per instructions. This is how I usually cook sausage. In a pan take some water, about 1 cup and place sausage in the pan. Cover and cook for 6 - 10 minutes turning the sausages around 3 - 4 times in between.
When the exterior of the sausage is cooked, remove the cover and cook until water evaporates. Keep turning the sausages around for even cooking.
Once the water evaporates, keep turning/rolling the sausages until brown on all sides. At this point, the sausage seal might break and some juices might spill out. That is ok. It usually takes about 15 - 20 minutes as I like well cooked sausages.
Slice the sausages and keep aside.
If using precooked sausages, slice the sausages into ¾” pieces and brown them in a saucepan with ¾ tablespoon oil along with the bay leaf. When brown, take them out and keep aside. Use the saucepan to prepare the soup.

Cooking Soup

In a saucepan heat ¾ - 1 tablespoon of oil and add bay leaf. (if using precooked sausage use the same pan used to saute sausages and don’t need another bay leaf).
Add onion , garlic and saute on medium - medium high heat until onions are translucent.
Add the lentils along with the water in which it is cooked. If the lentils are not tender by this point, it is ok. Lentils will cook in the soup.
Add stock, celery and marjoram, and give a good stir.
When the celery is half cooked, add carrots, sliced sausages, salt, pepper powder and stir. Continue cooking the soup for another 1 - 2 minutes.
Then reduce the heat to medium low and continue cooking until lentils are tender, about 4-5 minutes. Add more water or stock if required.
Add ketchup and cook for a few minutes until carrots are tender. It should not take too long and carrots should be tender by now. Taste test and adjust seasoning.
Add spinach, cilantro and mix. Increase the flame and bring it to a good boil. I do not like to cook spinach for too long; about a couple of minutes until spinach wilts.

Serving

Serve the soup with a whole grain bread and butter. Pass around the red wine vinegar separately for people to add to taste. I had my soup as it is without bread and red wine vinegar.

Notes

Substitutes - Whole masoor is a good substitute for French green lentils. Masoor doesn't hold the shape like green lentils, so be careful not to over cook whole masoor.
Nutrition - Values mentioned below are approximate.

Nutrition