A Pot to Share: Lentil Soup, Hospitality & Feeding Others

This is the kind of recipe I want to keep on Jack Righteous: inexpensive ingredients, flexible vegetables and a practical reason to make more than you need. Christian hospitality becomes real when care leaves the realm of intention and enters somebody’s hands in a bowl, container or place at the table.

Ingredients

• 1 cup dried green lentils, rinsed
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 carrots, diced
• 2 celery stalks, diced
• 1 parsnip, diced, optional
• 4 cups vegetable broth
• 1 can (14 oz) diced tomatoes
• 1 tsp dried thyme
• 1 bay leaf
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Fresh parsley, optional

Method

1. Heat olive oil in a large pot. Cook onion, carrots, celery and optional parsnip until beginning to soften; add garlic near the end.
2. Add lentils, broth, tomatoes, thyme and bay leaf.
3. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer about 30 minutes or until lentils are tender.
4. Remove bay leaf, season to taste and serve with bread if you have it.

Make the second container part of the recipe

Before serving, set aside a portion if there is somebody you intend to help. That small decision changes “I should bring them something” into something already prepared and ready to go.