So that I do not forget

I made a very scrumptious soup last night, and I am putting the recipe here to remind myself of it in the future.

Lentil Soup

2 leeks, sliced
1 small onion, diced
2 carrots, sliced
2 red potatoes, diced small
about 2.5 cups red lentils
8 cups stock (I used beef, but turkey or chicken would be good)
4 slices of bacon
2 smoked Polish sausage

Saute leeks, onions and carrots in a pot in 1-2 T olive oil until they have nice golden color. Be patient; this will take about 15 minutes or so. When you think it is done, give it another 2 minutes. Run two cloves of garlic through the press and add it to the veggie mix when they are starting to just turn golden.

Add just a little stock to cool down the pan a bit and thicken up the nice leek fibers for a minute, then add the remaining stock, lentils and potatoes. Simmer until lentils and potatoes are soft. This will take about 30 minutes. Salt and pepper to taste. I threw in about a tsp of salt and four or five cranks on the pepper mill.

While the soup simmers, fry the bacon until crisp. Cool, crumble and add to the soup. Add about 2 spoonfuls of the bacon grease to the soup too. Slice the sausage. Fry it in the remaining bacon grease until hot. Add to the soup a few minutes before serving.

Normally, when making lentil soup, I would puree part of it, but did not do that this time. Just be sure to cook that soup until the lentils are really soft and the potatoes essentially melt away.