Photo by Amnon Carmi

This is a last minute, no thrills, surprisingly quick and delicious dinner soup. The ingredients are all included in the picture!

2 Cups dried green or brown lentils
3-4 large potatoes
1 onion
1 large carrot
1 stalk celery
2 cloves garlic
1 bay leaf
salt, pepper and cumin to taste
2 quart water

Take two cups of dried lentils and cover them with boiling water (I use water from our Insta-hot). Set aside and chop onion, garlic, carrots and celery. Sauté the vegetables in water (for fat-free soup—use tbs. oil if fat is not a concern) with bay leaf, salt, pepper, and cumin in a sauce pan or dutch oven while you chop up 3-4 good sized potatos (I used smaller ones because that is what I had in the house.) Add the potatoes when the onions are fragrant and translucent. Cover with water to 2 inches over the potatoes. Add the soaked lentils and 4 C of water. Soaking the lentils for the 10-15 minutes it takes to prepare the rest of the soup helps them get a head start on cooking, since they take a bit more time than the potatoes.

Bring to a boil, lower to medium heat, and cook for 30 minutes or until lentils are soft. This soup can stay heated at low heat for a couple of hours and suffer no harm.

Serve with fresh bread for a simple, hearty meal. There is something about lentil soup that is homey, comforting and sustaining, and be prepared to ladle out seconds!