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Turkey Lentil Soup, Crockpot (M, TNT)
Source: Empire Kosher Chicken Cook Book
Yield: 4 quarts about 8 meal sized servings

Sautéed Vegetables:
1 tsp. canola or other vegetable oil
4 tsp. minced garlic
1 cup finely chopped onion
1 cup finely chopped carrot
1 cup finely chopped celery
Freshly ground black pepper
1-1/2 cup chopped tomato or 1 14-oz. can drained diced tomatoes
2 tbsp. dry red wine
2 tbsp. lemon juice
2 tbsp. red wine vinegar
1-1/2 tsp. molasses
3 tbsp. chopped fresh dill

Crockpot Soup:
2-1/2 cups brown lentils (same as 1 pound lentils)
1 clove peeled garlic
10 cups chicken stock OR good instant OR low sodium canned stock or water
2 bay leaves
Pinch of dried thyme
Pinch of salt (I would omit with Kosher poultry and all that stock)
1 cooked turkey leg and thigh (bottom quarter) (or several legs) (roasted is best), skin removed

A day ahead:
Sauté minced garlic in oil until golden, then add onion, celery, carrots and soften about 8 minutes. Remove from heat and add black pepper, tomato, wine, lemon juice, molasses, vinegar and dill. Put into bowl, cool and refrigerate.

In a 4-quart crockpot, put all the soup ingredients in and cook on LOW for 17 hours, that's right 17 hours.

Next day:
Extract turkey bones from soup. The meat will have fallen from the bones.

Discard bay leaf.

Divide vegetables into the bowls and ladle the soup over them. (My thought: take the vegetables out of the refrigerator before you leave for shul so they will be at room temperature and won't cool down the soup too much).

I made this soup for this Shabbat lunch. It was quite successful.

I used 3 smallish turkey legs which I skinned, seasoned with a little curry and some pepper and browned well in a hot 500°F oven.

For broth, I used some "Imagine" brand vegetable no-chicken stock (1 quart) some chicken soup powder and some vegetable lower sodium powder to a total of 12 cups as my crockpot is large - 5 quarts, not the 4 quarts called for.

I used generous cups of the chopped vegetables as my pot is larger. I took the flavored vegetables out of the fridge before I left for shul and put some into each bowl. The rest went into the soup when I took it off the hot-plate-blech base of my pot after we had eaten all we wanted. As we were only two, we will be eating this soup for several days :-)

Poster's Notes:
The soup has a lovely taste and the lentils came out still with a bit of tooth and not at all mushy which we like. It was nothing like cholent. I might make more chopped vegetables with the acid flavorings next time and will feel fully confident to have it for company.

Posted by Wendy Baker

Nutritional Info Per Serving: N/A