Presto Pasta Night: Lentil Soup With Pennette And Sausage

The weather has cooled down here, and that means I can start cooking the type of food I avoid in the summer: Roasts, stew, and hearty soup.  I love soup, an affection formed when I was a child. My mom made wonderful soups, but I also ate a lot of Campbell's soup for lunch.  Eating a bowl of soup usually makes me feel emotionally and physically satisfied. And as long as it isn't a high calorie soup, it's a healthy choice, good for losing weight and keeping the weight off.  This soup is lean, even though it contains sausage. I used a lower fat turkey kielbasa, which gave the soup a nice smokey flavor.  The soup is packed with vitamins and fiber. But, most important to me, it was delicious and quite easy to make.  It took about 45 minutes to make the soup.  I used brown lentils, which cook in about 30 minutes, but you can use any kind of lentil that you like. 

I chopped the vegetables and the sausage in small pieces to match the lentils and give a nice mouth feel.

This soup soaks up quite a bit of the stock. You can make it as thick or soupy as you want.  As you can see, this was thick, (called "thoup" in my family).  The soup contains pennette, tiny versions of penne.  It's been two weeks since I took part in Presto Pasta Night, so this is my return to the event which was started by the lovely Ruth at Once Upon A Feast.  Stop by her site tomorrow and check out the roundup of pasta dishes from around the world.

Lentil Soup with Pennette and Sausage

(Adapted from Williams-Sonoma)

3 Tbs. olive oil
8 oz. chopped turkey sausage (or sausage or your choice)
1 small yellow onion, chopped
2-3 large garlic cloves, minced
1 carrot, finely chopped
1 celery stalk, finely chopped
1 Tbs. minced fresh sage
2 cups lentils
1 cup canned tomatoes, chopped, with juice
6 cups chicken broth, plus more if needed
1 Tbs. salt, plus more, to taste
1/4 lb. pannetti, tubettini, ditalini or other small soup
  pasta
Freshly ground pepper, to taste


Make the soup base
In a large pot over medium-high heat, warm the olive oil. Add the sausage and sauté until lightly browned, about 2 minutes. Add the onion, garlic, carrot, celery and sage and sauté until the vegetables are softened, about 3 minutes.

Cook the lentils
Stir in the lentils and tomatoes and cook, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes. Increase the heat to high, add the 6 cups broth and bring to a boil. Add the 1 Tbs. salt, reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer, partially covered, until the lentils are nearly tender, 30 to 40 minutes. Add more broth if the soup starts to dry out.  I had to add over a cup of the broth.

Cook the pasta
Add the pasta to the lentils. Cook, stirring occasionally to prevent sticking, until the pasta is not quite al dente, about 2 minutes less than the package instructions. The pasta will continue to cook in the heat of the soup. Season with salt and pepper. Ladle the soup into bowls and serve immediately. Serves 4.

Comments

[Anh]

This sounds like a wonderful pasta soup. It is also great for us, too. The weather here has been quite cold and windy lately even we are in middle of spring.

[peabody]

We could use some of this around here too...I am breaking out the flannel sheets! Looks nice and hearty.

[Truffle]

I adore sausages and lentils together so that photo had me swooning! Great idea :)

[Lydia]

One of my tricks for getting the smoky flavor into dishes when I don't want to add meat is to use a bit of barbeque sauce. That would work well in this recipe, too. But sausage and lentils are a winter favorite in my house.

[Kevin]

Looks hearty and tasty. I have only cooked with lentils once before. It is about time to try them again.

[Ruth]

It does look great. Similar yet different to one I just made. Great minds think alike! Thanks for sharing with Presto Pasta Nights.

[Glenna]

Mmmmm...that looks delicious! Would love to have a bowl of it right now.

[Katie]

Mon mari likes 'thoup'... I love soup in any shape or consistency and eat it lots in the winter. I'm really looking forward to winter cooking, too.
Lentils and pasta...perfect - those little pennette or so cute!

[Melly]

I am a soup lover as well...and if I need a lift, I have to have a bowl of noodle soup..and kind. Grilled cheese sandwich with a bowl of tomato soup..oh yes! I love cooler temps for the same reasons you shared...pot roasts and hearty soup.

Thanks!

[Belinda]

What a splendid looking, rich, yummy soup, Sher. I have been craving something with lentils...even though its still pretty darn warm here in GA, I guess I'm starting to think autumn, and soups! I love the cute little sage leaf garnish too. :-)

[John]

MAN... that looks good. :)

[Laura Lee]

Hi Sher,

A good friend pointed me to your blog today. And I noticed that you tracked me down! The recipe I tried was fabulous. In fact, everything I've seen here so far looks really tempting. Your blog will be a favorite stop in my day, I'm sure.

[mosaic cats]

mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.
Every time we come visit we start drooling before your page fully loads.
mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

[Shannon]

Mmmm, the essence of fall, captured very nicely, Sher!

[Christine]

YUM!!!!!
:))

[Jennifer]

Man that looks hearty and comforting. I really lack the desire to create something like this- now that I am working it's almost impossible for me to dredge up any desire to cook! I'm drooling over this!

[Tanna]

Oh how I love lentils in all ways. This looks super. And yes it is really great how you can get the urge for lentils and do it on short anticipation time.

[Lana]

I made this tonight and it was deeeeeelicious! Thanks for sharing it!