Hearty Vegetarian Lentil Soup

Bring a medium saucepan of water to a rapid boil. And prepare a large bowl of ice water.

Score an X on the bottom of each tomato. One at a time, with a slotted spoon, drop a tomato into the water for about 30 seconds. Remove it immediately to the ice water and repeat with the remaining tomatoes. Set tomatoes aside.

Once the tomatoes are cool enough to handle, peel off the skin and dice the tomatoes. Discard the skin and any messy seeds.

In a large Dutch oven over medium heat, add in the two tablespoons of olive oil.

Once hot, add in the onions, celery, carrots and two teaspoons kosher salt. Stir and let the vegetables sweat for 6-8 minutes.

Add in the rinsed lentils, the tomatoes, vegetable broth, coriander, cumin and black pepper. Stir, cover and bring to a boil before reducing to low and simmering for 40 minutes.

Remove 1/3 of the soup into a blender and pulse two to three times. Transfer the blended soup back into the pot, stir and serve garnished with the parsley.

This soup was adapted from Alton Brown’s Lentil Soup 2006.