Welcome back, friends of Light and Tasty! To honor today’s ingredient – the majestic apple – I present you with a rather unique recipe: a spiced apple and lentil soup.

I chose this recipe from one of my old cooking magazines, which I keep like relics in my small kitchen library. When I’m looking for inspiration, these old magazines are still very useful despite being quite dated, and indeed today, my search yielded excellent results, as I found the perfect recipe for me in the Soups & Stews issue of Art in Cooking – Recipes for Health (dating back to the distant 1998!).
And it’s perfect for the weekly appointment with the ‘recipe for health’ for Light and Tasty. An apple and lentil soup that I had marked with a cross many years ago but had not yet tried, so… what better occasion than today?

I enjoyed it very much, even though it is unusual for me, having only started using apples in savory recipes a few years ago and almost always limiting myself to side dishes. In fact, at the moment, I have only one first course with apples to my name, this radicchio and apple risotto, and unfortunately, not a single second course (but I plan to remedy that soon!).

But today was the day for soup; the temperatures have dropped, and a warm and restorative soup was just what I needed, I ate it with gusto and regrettably didn’t cook more, as I would have gladly gone for seconds!
The spiced and aromatic combination of cinnamon and cloves pairs perfectly with the sweet taste of apples and enhances the rough texture of the lentils. What a delight!

Have I convinced you? Yesssss, I’m sure I have!
Try it! I know you will like it as much as I did!

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Difficulty: Very easy
Cost: Economical
Preparation time: 10 Minutes
Portions: 4
Cooking methods: Stove
Cuisine: Italian
Seasonality: Autumn, Winter

90.41 Kcal

calories per serving

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Energy 90.41 (Kcal)
Carbohydrates 14.27 (g) of which sugars 4.18 (g)
Proteins 4.08 (g)
Fat 1.73 (g) of which saturated 0.29 (g)of which unsaturated 0.21 (g)
Fibers 3.05 (g)
Sodium 439.71 (mg)

Indicative values for a portion of 100 g processed in an automated way starting from the nutritional information available on the CREA^* and FoodData Central^** databases. It is not food and / or nutritional advice.

^* CREATES Food and Nutrition Research Center: https://www.crea.gov.it/alimenti-e-nutrizione https://www.alimentinutrizione.it ^** U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. FoodData Central, 2019. https://fdc.nal.usda.gov

Ingredients

7 oz dried lentils
2 apples (not too ripe)
1 carrot
Half onion (or whole if small)
1 cinnamon stick (a piece)
2 cloves
1 sprig rosemary
4 leaves sage
3 tablespoons breadcrumbs
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
Half teaspoon smoked paprika
8.5 cups vegetable broth

Tools

Preparation

Rinse the lentils to remove any impurities.
Soak them for about an hour to soften and reduce cooking time (optional step, depending on the type of lentils).
Cook them in water or vegetable broth (I used water with a teaspoon of vegetable granules).
In a separate pan, sauté the diced onion and carrot in a tablespoon of oil along with sage and rosemary.
Add the smoked paprika.
The magazine recipe included smoked bacon, which I chose not to use because I wanted a vegan soup.
So, I replaced the smoked flavor with a small amount – just half a teaspoon – of smoked paprika.
When the onion and carrot are withered and browned, turn off the heat and cover with three tablespoons of breadcrumbs (this will give the soup consistency).
Wash the apples, remove the seeds but leave the skin on. Cut into pieces.
Variety of apples: I used two apples like the ones you see in the following photo, both not too ripe because I found them more suitable for a savory recipe: it’s a golden and a red apple of unknown variety (but strictly farmer-sourced 😊). The magazine suggested ‘Alto Adige apples’.
When the lentils are halfway through cooking, add the apples to the lentil pot.
At this point, add the cloves and the cinnamon stick (which should be removed at the end of cooking).
At the end of cooking, add the sautéed onions and carrots + breadcrumbs to the soup.
Mix well and season with the second tablespoon of raw oil.
Serve this wonderful spiced soup nice and hot. I am sure its enveloping aromatic taste will win you over. 😋
For those interested, the points of this apple and lentil soup for WW ProPoints (which I followed last year and thanks to which I lost almost 10 kg). The total points of the recipe are 24, to be divided into four portions: 6 points/portion.

Tips for Cooking without Salt

Without salt To balance the sweet taste of the apple, today I used the traditional vegetable granules (i.e., with salt) instead of my usual salt-free granules. A rare exception to my rule, which involves a minimal salt intake (a teaspoon per four portions of soup). Spices and aromatic herbs are the main flavor enhancers of this apple and lentil soup 😊😉

If you’re interested in reducing or eliminating salt, always remember to:
▫ Gradually decrease the salt, as the palate needs to get used to it slowly without noticing the progressive reduction.
▫ Use spices. Chili, pepper, curry, nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves, cumin…
▫ Use aromatic herbs. Basil, parsley, oregano, thyme, sage, marjoram, rosemary, mint…
▫ Use seeds. Sesame, pine nuts, almonds, walnuts…
▫ Use spicy vegetables or fruits. Garlic, onion, lemon, orange…
▫ Use my salt-free vegetable granules and gomasio.
▫ Prefer fresh foods.
▫ Avoid cooking in water; prefer methods that don’t disperse flavors (grill, foil, steam, microwave)
▫ Avoid bringing the salt shaker to the table!
▫ Occasionally indulge in a rule break. It’s good for the mood and helps with perseverance.

If you do not want, or cannot, give up salt:
▫ You can still try my recipes by salting according to your habits.