Warm And Boost Your Health With This Delicious Lentil Soup With Sausage
Instant Pot, Soup
Cook Time: about 1 hour | Servings: Servings: 6
Ingredients:
8 ounces of sweet or hot Italian sausage
1 medium onion, diced
2 celery stalks, sliced or diced
2 medium carrots, peeled and sliced into half-moons or diced
4 cloves garlic, sliced (reserve half for later in recipe)
Kosher salt
A pinch of crushed red pepper flakes (optional)
1 cup brown lentils, sorted and rinsed
2 bay leaves
1 28-ounce can crushed tomatoes
6 cups water or stock
Freshly ground black pepper
3 to 4 cups shredded kale (1 bunch was good)
4 T butter
Grated Pecorino Romano cheese to finish
Directions:
On the stove in a large pot on medium to medium-high heat. Cook the sausage, breaking it up with a
wooden spoon until it starts to brown, about five minutes.
Add the onion, celery, carrots, first two garlic cloves, a pinch of salt, and if you like your soup spicy, a
pinch of red pepper flakes (unless you are using the hot sausage). Cook with the sausage until the
vegetables soften a bit, another 5 minutes.
Add the lentils, bay leaves, tomatoes, water, more salt and black pepper to taste. Bring to a simmer and
allow to cook until the lentils are tender, about 40 minutes. (It might be necessary to add more water if
the soup gets too thick, though we preferred ours on the thick side.)
When the lentils are cooked, add the kale and cook until the leaves are tender, just a few minutes more.
Discard the bay leaves.
In an InstantPot:
Proceed as written above, using the sauté function on high to cook the sausage and then vegetables.
Once you’ve added the remaining ingredients, including dried lentils, lock the lid and set to high
pressure for 15 minutes. Let it naturally release for at least 10 minutes (or longer, if you have time), to
help keep the vegetables intact. You can manually release the rest.
Use the sauté function on high again to bring it back to a simmer and add the greens; cook until wilted.
Both methods: To finish, divide soup among bowls, then add 4 tablespoons of butter/ghee/pork fat, etc.
to the remaining 2 garlic cloves to a small skillet (on the stove) and heat over medium until the garlic
softens and hisses. Drizzle this over soup bowls, and top with fresh Romano, passing more at the table.
Enjoy!!
Adapted from the SmittenKitchen.com