in my pantry

First and foremost, thank you so much to everyone for such nice comments on my last post. As I think you can tell, we are very excited these days, very excited. We've begun the beginning stages of wedding planning, and I'm mixing up some ideas and inspiration over at Pinterest, if anyone is interested.

In other notes, I'm here today to talk about soup, but first my pantry. I'm sort of crushing on the idea of a good pantry these days. I've been stocking mine with lots of dried things (beans of all kinds, lentils, quinoa, rice of all kinds, pasta, the list goes on...), jars of homemade strawberry jam, canned tomatoes, canned beans, peanut butter...

... you get the drift. I'm big into my pantry. BIG. I've made an excel file to keep track of what I have, what I don't have, and what I need. Whether or not this will prove to be useful, only time can tell. For now, I'm pretty hype about it. Hype about an excel file, hmm... sad, but true.

In that file, I've even included frozen things, a couple of fresh things, and then the usual flour, sugar, baking powder/soda, etc. It's my collection of either the things I can store for long periods of time (the dried and canned things) and the items I use just about everyday (onions, lemons). I keep a few maybe not so traditional ingredients in my pantry too. Things like coconut milk, because I love it so much. Build your pantry out of the ingredients you love and love to use and hopefully, this is my goal, there will always be something to throw together for dinner.

So this most amazing soup comes from just that, pantry items (at least to me). This recipe comes at you right from one of the most lovely cookbooks I've picked up in a long while, Heidi Swanson's Super Natural Everyday. The whole book is amazing, and I'm not the only one out there who thinks so. Blogs, papers, critics have been raving since it came out, and for good reason.

I am not joking when I tell you this is the best soup I've made in a long time, and I'm one for soup, so I think that says something. Somehow, without being complicated the brown butter, the curry, the coconut milk all come together and just completely sing. I am 100% in love with this soup. If those ingredients sound good to you. Don't hesitate... make this ASAP.

green lentil soup

adapted from Super Natural Everyday 

serves 4-6

2 Tbsp unsalted butter
1 large onion, chopped
3 garlic cloves, chopped
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
5 1/2 c vegetable broth
1 1/2 c green lentils (or green split peas), picked over and rinsed
3 Tbsp unsalted butter
1 Tbsp Indian curry powder (I used Madras)
1/2 c coconut milk
salt to taste
chives, chopped (optional)

In a large pot over medium heat, melt 2 Tbsp butter. Add onion, garlic, and red pepper flakes, and stir often until onion softens, a few minutes. Add vegetable broth and the lentils. Simmer, covered until lentils are tender, 20-30 minutes (can take up to 50 min).

Warm other 3 Tbsp butter in a small saucepan over medium heat and brown, until it begins to smell nutty and fragrant, but don't let it burn. Stir in curry powder and saute until fragrant, less than 1 minute. Set aside.

When lentils are tender, remove from heat, stir in coconut milk and 1/4 tsp salt. Puree using an immersion blender, leaving the soup a little chunky, if you like, or until perfectly smooth. Stir in half of the spiced butter. Taste and add salt, if needed. Serve drizzled with remaining butter and sprinkle with chives.