Sick Soup

When I was sick last week, one of my professors recommended I make a Lebanese soup that has lentils, greens, and lots of lemon.  I'm not sure if this is exactly what Saree had in mind, but it was delicious.  I used better than boullion's no chicken stock as a base, and compared to their normal veggie stock the flavor was simpler but richer, cut nicely by the lemon juice.  I can't prevent myself from adding chilies to everything these days, but the sweeter and milder flavor of aleppo pepper flakes (which Janet turned me onto) was nice here.

Lemony Lebanese Lentil-Greens Soup (Adas Bil Hamud)

Ingredients

olive oil

1/2 onion

1 tsp cumin

red pepper flakes (see note above)

2 c beet greens or other greens

6 c stock (+ water as desired)

3/4 c lentils

*

oil

4 cloves garlic, crushed

juice of 1/2 to 1 lemon

*

cilantro

onion slivers

lemon wedges

Instructions

1. In a large saucepan, heat oil and saute onion, cumin, and pepper.  When onion is softened, add greens and continue cooking until greens have softened slightly.
2. Add stock and lentils, bring to a boil, then reduce heat, cover, and simmer 30+ minutes, adding water to thin if it looks like the lentils are absorbing too much liquid.
3. Towards the end of cooking, in a small frying pan, saute garlic until golden, then turn off heat and add lemon juice to the pan.  Add this to the soup just before removing from the heat.
4. Adjust seasonings.  Serve hot, garnished with cilantro, onion, and lemon.  Serves 4-6.