Food Writer, Cookbook Author, Modern Homesteader
Aimée Wimbush-Bourque is a Montreal-based award-winning food writer and cookbook author. She is a mother to three children, two cats and six brown hens and is passionate about forging a healthy family food culture, world travel and modern-day homesteading. Aimée authored ‘Brown Eggs and Jam Jars’, which was shortlisted for a 2016 Taste Canada Award. She writes at Simple Bites and her second cookbook, 'The Simple Bites Kitchen', will be released in Fall 2017 with Penguin Random House.
More from Aimée Wimbush-Bourque
Cream of Tomato & Red Lentil Soup
The flavour and velvety texture of this simple soup will win you over in the first few bites. Instead of the usual added sugar, this soup draws its sweetness from slowly caramelized sweet onions. Other subtle flavours include toasted cumin and thyme, although oregano or dried chilies work well, too.
It makes a big batch, so I freeze half of it for weekday lunches, which eliminates the need for canned tomato soup in my pantry.
4 Person(s)
0 min
0 min
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 medium sweet onion, such as Vidalia, chopped
- 3 medium garlic cloves, chopped
- 1 tsp freshly ground cumin
- 1/2 tsp dried thyme
- 1/2 tsp freshly ground white pepper
- 2 28fl oz cans diced tomatoes in juice
- 1/2 cup dried red lentils, rinsed
- 2 cups vegetable broth or water
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/3 cup whole milk
- 2 tbsp whole cream, plus more for garnish
Directions
- In a medium-sized heavy-bottomed pot over medium heat, warm olive oil until glistening, but not smoking. Add onion and stir to coat. Cook for about 7 minutes, until onion is soft and slightly caramelized.
- Add garlic, cumin, thyme and pepper to the onions. Cook for another 2 minutes, stirring often and scraping the bottom of the pot.
- Add a little of the tomato juice to the pot and scrape the bottom of the pot with a wooden spoon to deglaze it. Add both cans of tomatoes, red lentils and broth or water.
- Stir soup and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium low and simmer soup for 20–25 minutes, stirring occasionally. Lentils should be soft.
- Remove soup from heat and cool slightly. With a large ladle or Pyrex measuring cup, carefully transfer soup into a blender. Add salt and puree until velvety smooth, working in batches if needed, depending on the size of your blender.
- Pour off half of the soup base into a clean, wide-mouth mason jar or plastic container. Cool at room temperature, then cover, label and freeze for another day.
- To the remaining soup left in the blender, add milk and cream. Blend until well incorporated — at least 60 seconds. Serve hot, with a swirl of cream on the top and a handful of crackers.
- To reheat soup from frozen: Thaw overnight in the refrigerator. Transfer to a small pot. Add milk and cream and heat gently, stirring often. Serve hot.
Recipe notes
This recipe is courtesy of Aimée Wimbush-Bourque.