This is one of my favorite easy lentil dishes - Lemony Lentil Stew. It's packed with vegetables and flavor (and protein!), and the lemon really shines!
14.5ouncecan diced tomatoes, undrained (fire roasted if possible!)400 g
6cupsunsalted vegetable brothor water
1Zest from 1 lemonabout 1 T
Juice from 1 lemonabout 3 T
1bunchkalestems removed and leaves roughly chopped (about 8 cups)
½cupchopped parsley to garnish
2Tablespoonsolive oil for drizzling
Instructions
Warm the oil in a large stock pot. Sauté the onions and carrots for about 5 minutes, or until onions are slightly translucent. Add the garlic, tomato paste, salt*, black pepper, turmeric, and crushed red pepper flakes and cook about 1 minute.
Add the lentils, canned tomatoes, vegetable broth, and lemon zest and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer immediately and cook for about 20-25 minutes, or until lentils are tender.
Once lentils are at least 90% tender, stir in the kale and the lemon juice and cook just until kale is wilted and lentils are cooked to your liking. Serve immediately!
Optional Blanch:If you would like your greens to stay bright and vibrant, you can quickly blanch them before adding them to the soup. To do this, fill a big bowl with ice and 1-2 cups water. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Drop the greens into the boiling water and let cook for about 5-30 seconds, then quickly strain / scoop out and place in the bowl of ice water. Stir until greens are cool, then immediately remove and drain before adding to recipe.
Notes
We often just use parsley as a garnish, but you should know that herbs are generally very nutrient dense. Parsley contains a whole bunch of vitamin K, and pretty solid amounts of vitamin C, as well as a bit of folate and iron, among other micronutrients. Add more herbs to your food!For the tomatoes, fire roasted is my preference. Plain tomatoes are fine or you can boost the smokiness with ½ teaspoon smoked paprika. This dish is ideal for those who don't tolerate a lot of acidity in their foods - it uses about ⅓ the amount of canned tomatoes as other stew recipes. Feel free to skip the lemon if not tolerated and just use the zest. If you don't have dried thyme, Italian Herb Seasoning is a good alternative.* Salt - if you are using salted broth and/or salted canned tomatoes, you may want to wait to add any additional salt until the end.Watch me make this recipe on YouTube!