Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lentil

Soup, bread, aloe plant...

Been a minute since my last post, but I'm living in New York City now, where the mercury has been hanging real low. Feels like a good day for soup.

Beans aren't really my thing, but I had a really tasty lentil soup at a friend's house a few weeks ago, and I've been thinking I should give it a go myself. Rather than try to cobble a few recipes together or strike out on my own, I cracked open one of my trusty cookbooks and went for something I could easily whip together. (Luckily, I could buy the lentils from my local grocery store instead of picking them out of the fireplace!)

Alton Brown's Lentil Soup

As tomatoes are out of season (and I was feeling too lazy to peel and dice them anyway), I went for a canned variety instead, which you don't have to drain, but you can if you want. Grains of paradise is sort of like pepper, so don't feel like you have to use it, or sub in pepper instead (just put in the pepper at the end rather than with the other spices). This is a really quick soup, too, done in less than one hour, prep and all. As with all soup, freeze it in single serving portions for another day of lunch weeks or months in the future. And stay warm!

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Title inspiration: Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune, a play by Terrence McNally. Premiered at Manhattan Theatre Club Stage II at City Center in New York City on 2 June 1987, starring Kathy Bates and F. Murray Abraham.