Welcome back to What's for Dinner! As I mentioned a few weeks ago, I've been trying to make at least one Internet/Pinterest/Cookbook inspired meal every week to shake up our routine and search for new staples. This week, I tried this "Spicy Red Lentil Soup," and paired it with a simple lemony white bean spread on toasted pita triangles. It was sort of a funny mix of winter and summer, but then, here in March, I guess that's appropriate.

So, the soup was pretty good, but much, much thicker than I was expecting. I thought it would be more bisque-like, and it wound up more of a thick puree. It was also just a touch on the bland side, and though I would call it "spiced," I would not say it was spicy. At all. We still liked and ate it, but after dinner I kept playing with it, adding in another 1 2/3 cup liquid and heaping teaspoon full of curry powder. It reached a pretty great, creamy consistency, but then was pretty puree-ish again the next day, so I think the lentils are soaking up the liquid, and you may need to add more liquid than I've represented here, to suit your texture preference. Overall, I thought it was good, but I'm not sure I would make it a staple just yet - there are lots and lots of soups out there to be tried, and this one didn't knock our socks off. But, it has some pretty good redeeming characteristics. It is really low-fat and healthy, but hearty, and nice for a cold day. And all the ingredients are things that keep for a long time - even carrots last a long time in the drawer in the fridge, and we tend to have them around for snacking and carrot fries - so it's sort of a nice thing to have up your sleeve. The recipe here includes my suggested changes.

Curried Carrot & Lentil Soup

Recipe slightly adapted from Diet Taste

Serves 4-6

Ingredients

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 med-large onion, diced
6-7 large carrots, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon paprika
2 teaspoons coriander
2 1/2 teaspoons curry powder
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
6 - 9 cups vegetable broth or water (in total, I used 5 cups vegetable broth and 3 cups water)
1 15 oz can diced tomatoes and juice
2 cups red lentils, rinsed until water runs clear
salt and pepper to taste
greek yogurt and fresh cilantro for garnishing, if you wish

Directions

1. To a cold, large pot, add oil and garlic. When garlic is fragrant, add onion and cook, stirring, over medium low heat, until softened. Add carrots, season with salt and pepper and let cook for 10-12 minutes, stirring occasionally, until carrots are softened.

Homemade vegetable stock, frozen in 2-tablespoon-sized batches in ice cube tray, can be thawed or just added to recipes.

2. Add spices, tomatoes, lentils and 6 cups broth/water. Cook for 30 minutes or until lentils have softened. Taste and adjust seasoning as necessary. I make and freeze veggie broth ahead of time, and though I heat it up to add to certain recipes, it wasn't necessary here. I just threw the frozen cubes in and let it all thaw/cook in its own time.

3. Using an immersion blender or working in batches, puree the soup until it is creamy. Add more liquid if necessary.

Lemony White Bean Spread with Arugula and Grape Tomatoes

The soup was good. The white bean spread, on the other hand, was delicious. You can tell, because I took a bite out of it while shooting these photos. I recently read some food photography tips, one of which was to take a bite out of your creation to show how yummy it is and to make the shot more dynamic. I decided that gave me permission to just take a little nibble. Because I actually was hungry. My bite clearly is not artistic enough: this looks precisely like I just started eating half way through the shoot, but whatever. I find the deliberate artifice of a lot of bloggy/home magazine/food photography pretty annoying (what with the artfully kicked off high heels in every closet photo ever?), even if I am a sucker for the perfectly staged images just like everyone else.

Anyway. This stuff came about because I didn't have chickpeas like I thought, so instead of making my normal hummus, I used cannellini beans and now I am hooked. What a delightful spread and dip. It was perfect on whole wheat flat bread with arugula and tomatoes, but I bet it would be good with all kinds of fixings. And I tend to think that lemony things taste fancy, somehow, so it felt a little more special than just a "dip."

Lemony White Bean Dip and Spread

Recipe adapted from Mother Nature Network

Serves 2-3

Ingredients

1 can white beans, such as cannellini or navy, drained and rinsed
1 clove garlic
1/4 cup fresh flat parsley leaves
the zest and juice of half a lemon
salt and pepper to taste
drizzle of olive oil, to preference

Directions

1. Add your garlic to the bowl of a food processor and pulse until garlic is finely minced.

2. Add beans, parsley, lemon zest and juice, and pulse until combined. I left mine just a bit chunky. Add salt and pepper (a little goes a long way, so start with a pinch of each) and taste for seasoning. Adjust as needed. Add a drizzle of olive oil - a couple teaspoons up through a tablespoon or so - and pulse a few more times. If desired for creaminess, add more olive oil.

3. Serve on pita, bread or as a dip.

Lemony White Bean Spread with Arugula and Grape Tomatoes

Enjoy!