Lentil soup

I have saved several recipes over the years--many on scraps of notebook paper. I found a recipe for Lentil soup. In the cupboard I found a 1 lb bag of La preferida lentils, so I decided to make the soup. 

I didn’t have any celery so I just skipped it. I picked through my elastic sack of garlic, but nearly all the cloves were in a sorry state. I found 1 and a half good cloves. I added some iodized salt and 2 smatterings of olive oil. 

One of the most interesting steps was sorting the lentils. The recipe didn’t say to sort the lentils, but the rest of the internet warned of debris; so I did some sorting. I colandered the lentils rinsed them. I only found one small branchlike thing, while glancing through all the flattened piles. 

I poured tap water into a large pot and then put in the lentils. I added heat and the other ingredients including the spices. I occasionally added more water. I wasn’t sure how long it’d take; after a while I tasted some broth and lentils. The lentils weren’t hard, but the broth seemed tasteless, so I helplessly added more salt (non-iodized this time). Despite this discouragement, I resolved to trust the recipe and not attempt resuscitative measures. I simmered it a bit more, but not so much to wipe out the lentils. 

Before my second taste, I allowed the spoonful to cool. Thankfully the broth seemed more bodied. The soup was more piled than I prefer, but still had a nice watery composition. I’m inclined to that over starch-thickened soups. This is not the norm, no? I imagine the scenario in Defiance. Everyone’s in line waiting for one ladle-full of watery broth. One man complains it’s insufficiency, but he is punished for it, so those who follow are content with a single ladle. 

I don’t recall having a soup without anything floating around--a pure broth. But that is the true test that indicates whether a soup works or not. 

P.S. 

I made this again. This time I added chopped up ham and some celery.