Directions
Rinse and chop all of your vegetables. Rinse and drain the beans (again, no need to soak). Open your wine (if it wasn’t opened already). Preheat your gorgeous dutch oven over medium-high heat (or just whatever large pot you will be using).
Add a tablespoon or two of unsalted butter to the pot. (BUTTER?! Yes, butter.) The sausage I use is very lean and it requires some fat in the pan, plus as an Italian who is loyal to her olive oil, soup is one of the only times I use butter when cooking.
Remove the casing from the links of sausage and brown that deliciousness in the butter (yes, really, butter). If you want to buy bulk sausage, then obviously you can skip the part about removing the casing and just break the meat up in the pan.
Once the sausage has started to brown, add in the onions and saute for a few minutes, then add in the celery and saute for a few minutes, then the carrots. Adding the veggies in slowly helps avoid crowding the pan and allows for them to brown a bit as opposed to steam. Add the garlic to the top of the pile of vegetables.
While all of that goodness is melding together, add your salt and pepper, rosemary and thyme. Then, add a few splashes of wine (about a 1/4 cup) and stir, making sure to scrap up the yummy bits from the bottom of the pan.
Add in the potatoes and lentils, and make sure everything gets mixed together well. Cover the ingredients in chicken stock, cover and bring to a boil. Once it’s boiling, turn it down to a simmer and let it continue to cook for about 25-30 min (at least until the potatoes are fork tender) – but I have let it go longer (1.5 – 2 hours) and it just gets better.
Just before serving, zest the lemon into the soup and stir. Add more salt and pepper if needed.
Serve with some grated Parmesan cheese and some delicious crusty bread – I prefer Ciabatta for this – and of course a fabulous glass of white wine and you have the perfect winter meal. Enjoy!
To go back to the ingredients, click over to Page 1.
