Smoky Lentil-Tomato Soup

There are very few 'soup' days living here in Florida. Something about 80* and sweat doesn't make me want to dip into a warm bowl of beans and vegetables, so I have to wait for the few days it dips into the 70's! This winter was very mild, I can only think of a few nights where we had a freeze! Just last weekend it was over 80* so I went and bought Violet a new summer wardrobe, but this morning I woke up to a freeze! I have been craving lentils lately, so when I stumbled across this soup it sounded like a winner.

The base to make it smoky is bacon, which is obviously out for me. Instead, I used smoked paprika rather than regular, and added a whole can of fire-roasted tomatoes instead of the original 1/4  c. the recipe calls for. It ended up being a lot more tomato-y than I usually like, but it was delicious! The Williams-Sonoma website suggests serving this soup with their Grown-Up Grilled Cheese, so the extra tomato-y sop ended up pairing even better with grilled cheese, in my opinion!

Smoky Lentil Soup

adapted from Williams-Sonoma

1 tbsp. olive oil

1 small yellow onion, minced

2 carrots, peeled and diced

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 tbsp. tomato paste

1 tbsp. smoked paprika

1 28 oz. can fire roasted crushed tomatoes

3/4 c. lentils (they recommend red, I used green, they just take a bit longer to cook)

3 c. vegetable stock

Kosher salt and black pepper

Sour cream, for garnish

Heat a dutch oven over medium heat, add olive oil, onion, carrot, garlic, tomato paste and paprika.

Season with salt and pepper, cook until vegetables soften, about 10 minutes.

Add tomatoes, lentils and broth, cover and cook for 30-40 minutes, until lentils are tender.

Taste and adjust seasonings.

Ladle into bowls, serve with sour cream and a dash of paprika.