Greek Lentil & Spinach Soup with Lemon

Somehow I stumbled across this story "surfing" and when I finished it, I knew I had to make the soup.  What an entertaining piece to read!  I won't spoil it, but I do suggest you click that link and enjoy.  And bonus, not once is "covid" mentioned  😉.  My friend gifted me some fresh lemon balm from her garden so I thought I'd throw a bit in here, and it's pictured below.  

There's a lot of mise en place choppy choppy in this recipe.  What I used to put this together:

• Spanish olive oil cooking spray
• 2 & 1/3 cups Canadian organic French green lentils, rinsed and picked over 
• 8 cups "Better than Bouillon" organic low-sodium vegetable stock
• 1 fresh jalapeño, stem removed, halved

aromatics:

• 2 teaspoons whole coriander seeds
• 1 & 1/2  teaspoons cumin seeds
• 1 teaspoon dried basil
• 1 teaspoon dried Greek oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1 teaspoon organic turmeric (Reid's addition from the story above & optional)
• 2 freshly dried bay leaves (friend gifted me these gems too!)
• 1/4 cup fresh lemon balm, coarsely chopped (my addition & optional)

vegetables:

• 2 medium organic yellow potatoes, scrubbed and diced
• 10-ounces fresh organic baby spinach
• 1 medium organic butternut squash, peeled, seeded and diced (you want to end up with about 2 1/2 cups)

saute:

• 1 to 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 2 ribs celery, with leaves, sliced
• 3 large cloves of garlic, peeled and finely chopped
• kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
• 1/3 cup freshly squeezed organic lemon juice and zest (it took me 2 lemons. Zest is optional but why waste it?)
• paper-thin slices of lemon to garnish; thin wedges of lemon to pass at the table

Spray a large Dutch oven with oil, and in it combine lentils, stock, jalapeño, and aromatics. Bring to a boil, then turn down heat to low. Simmer, partially covered for 30 minutes.  

Add potatoes and butternut squash, put lid back on and cook another 30 minutes.

In a large skillet, heat the olive oil over medium heat.  Add onion, and sauté until softened.  Add the celery and garlic, sautéing another 3 minutes, stirring often.  Deglaze the skillet with a little soup liquid and and pour everything into the pot. Add zest, spinach, salt and pepper; taste for seasoning.

Just before serving, remove bay leaves and jalapeño.  Chop up the jalapeño and return it to the soup or discard, your choice.  Add the lemon juice and stir well. Serve hot, with a lemon slice floating atop each bowl. Serve with additional wedges.  I served with buttered FRESH artisan peasant loaf bread from a local bakery - sooooo good.  The broth was basically gone by the time I served, so seconds will need more water added to thin it out.

Well this ticked the boxes for healthy, hearty for sure.  It was interesting to get the crunch/pop of the coriander seeds, they're citrusy when you bite in.  We didn't mind that but it was surprising the first mouthful you get of it.  You could crush them first if you didn't want full seeds and that crunchiness texture.  The soup was very good but we didn't love it as much as "Reid" from the story...  Also, this soup is probably vegan but I can't remember if the veggie stock I used is so I didn't label it as such.  When we had it for lunch the next day, I used a splash of red wine vinegar when serving.  It worked in place of having lemon.