Recipes included in this post: Lentil Soup and Maple Oat Bread
Overnight, fall arrived. In a mere 12 hours the weather went from hot and humid to cool, windy and rainy - a predicted high of 52 for the day. In addition to the scramble to find sweatshirts, fall is announced in our house by the appearance of a red dutch oven filled with simmering soup on the stove and the smell of fresh baked bread. I can't lie, I am not thrilled with fall's arrival this year. Summer has been on the cool side and I was hoping for more sunny days of 70s before it was over. On the other hand, I have been itching to make soup and fall signals that soup is now back on the table as a dinner option! While soup can be time consuming with all the chopping usually required, in many respects soup is an amazingly family friendly food, especially for busy families. Instead of having to think through an entire meal and all its different components (main, side, vegetable, and fruit), soup is almost an entire meal in and of itself. Add fresh bread and some type of fresh fruit (cut up apples and peeled clementines often suffice at our house) and dinner is on the table. Soup can also sit on the stove and be eaten in shifts if needed, or it can be ladled out all at once to be blessed and enjoyed together. Either way it is a one-dish wonder of tastiness and nourishment that warms on a cool day and makes fall weather tolerable if not all together welcomed. Today I made an old family recipe for lentil soup passed down by my mother-in-law. This simple soup has been enjoyed countless times by our family. It is a fairly fool-proof recipe in that if you can chop, you can make this soup. We eat this soup all fall and winter… in fact my family is probably sick of it by the time spring comes, but by then soup season is over.
And of course, nothing goes better with soup than homemade bread. Baking bread requires an oven, and like most people, I try not to frivolously use my oven in the summer, but come fall, it just seems natural to want to bake bread. To be completely honest, I use to find baking bread intimidating. I still do find most bread baking intimidating, but this recipe needs no special equipment, does not require a lot of expert kneading, and turns out great every time! It goes especially well slathered with butter and a steaming bowl of the above mentioned lentil soup. It is also great toasted the next morning with butter, that is, if there is any left.
Lentil Soup
1 onion, chopped (honestly, I usually skip the onion)
1 large ham hock
1 package washed and picked through lentils
5-8 carrots, chopped
5-8 stalks celery, chopped
2 bay leaves
a few cups chicken broth
pepper
salt to taste as needed
Combine all the ingredients in a large soup pot. Add water to cover. Bring to a boil, turn down and simmer, partially covered, for two hours or more, checking the liquid level and adding water as needed. When ready to serve you can add the juice of a lemon to give it a flavor boost and a nice golden color. (This step is often missed in our house because we are usually in such a rush to get dinner on the table that we forget this step… that is even if we had fresh lemons. The lemon adds a nice depth to the flavor, but is unnecessary for the soup to be yummy anyway.)
Maple Oat Bread
I found this recipe in the Made with Love cookbook benefitting Meals on Wheels. This brings up my obsession with cookbooks, my husband might say addiction to cookbooks (a topic for another post). I am most thrilled with cookbooks that offer great recipes while supporting a good cause. If you like this recipe and you think Meals on Wheels is a good program, I recommend checking out this cookbook.
1 cup, plus 2 tablespoons old-fashioned oats, divided
1 cup boiling water
1 (1/4 oz) package active dry yeast
1/3 cup warm water (110 -115 degrees Fahrenheit)
1/2 cup maple syrup
2 teaspoons canola oil
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
3 1/2 to 4 cups all-purpose flour
1 Tablespoon cream or milk**
Put 1 cup oats in a food processor and whirl until coarsely chopped. Transfer to a small, heat-proof bowl and add boiling water. Let the mixture stand until it cools down to between 110 and 115 degrees Fahrenheit.
In a separate large mixing bowl, add warm water and sprinkle yeast over it, whisking until the yeast dissolves. Add the maple syrup, oil, salt, cooled oat mixture, and 2 cups flour. Beat until smooth (I use my standing mixer). Keep stirring, adding enough the remaining flour until mixture forms a soft dough.
Turn dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead for about 6 to 8 minutes, or until smooth and elastic.
Lightly grease a large bowl and add dough, turning once to coat. Cover with a dish towel and let rise in a warm place until doubled in size - about an hour. Punch down the dough. Grease a 9-inch round baking dish (I use a pie plate). Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface and shape it into a 9-inch round loaf. Add dough to the baking dish. Cover with the dishtowel and let rise until again doubled, 45 minutes or so.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Gently brush the top of the dough with the cream or milk and sprinkle with the remaining 2 tablespoons of oats. Bake until golden brown, 30-35 minutes. Remove bread from pan into wire rack and cook.
** Note - the original recipe called for a beaten egg white, but I don't like to waste an egg, so I substitute half-and-half for this step.
Written September 2014, posted October 10, 2014.
