Jamie: Election Night soup

bacon!!

This time ‘round, I went to only three grocery stores (on purpose! and one is more of a convenience store that also sells lentils, beans, and spices...). I was thinking of going to Whole Foods for the bacon, but then decided to stop by Savenor’s instead, since it’s closer to my house-- and I am so glad that I did! I asked the butcher (MY butcher now) if I could get just half a pound of their bacon... and oh, could he slice it up for me, too? He obliged, and while he was doing that I perused their meat selection in the case next to me... Among the sausage, burger patties and steaks, they were also selling rattle snake (!) and turtle meat (boneless, of course).

At home, I got out my equipment and ingredients and set about chopping and slicing the veg and rinsing out the lentils and leeks. I felt like that stupid dog from the Bac’n Bits Beggin' Strips ads while I cut up the bacon into lardons (BACON!!!!!!) - it smelled so good (and our kitchen still smelled of it the morning after). 

I ended up buying a different kind of lentils from those in the recipe, which may have affected how much liquid they needed and how long to cook them. I added about another cup of water, and let them go for a little longer than the 40 minutes, and I think they were still a little undercooked. After I added the sweet potatoes and vinegar to taste, I mashed everything up a bit to make it a little smoother (which does not add to its aesthetic appeal!).

The soup - which in my case, isn't quite a soup since the lentils drank up almost all of the liquid - was (is!) quite delish. Unfortunately, I charred the bacon in the final steps, but even without that as a garnish, the soup has a nice smokey, bacon-y flavor. I think next time, I would be a little more adventurous with the vinegar. But all in all, I loved the recipe and I have enough leftovers to last all week!

A hearty fall meal: Lentil & S.Potato soup with some hard cider