Cookbook Challenge # 13 - More With Less
More With Less (1976) is a recipe collection published by the Mennonite Central Committee that was very popular among my decidedly non-Mennonite post-collegiate social circle in the early 1990s, largely I think for the somewhat lefty faith-based frugality of it all. It has a few favorite recipes I go back to regularly, notably the Old-Fashioned Bread Omelet, which is a perfect quick, filling meal when you have a few eggs, a little bit of milk and cheese, and the heel end of some good bread, and Kusherie, which is a bit of a production with all the chopping and multiple pots involved but is also how I first experienced the glories of deeply caramelized onions. With that said, it’s very much of its era, and the recipes run to the hearty and bland.
Tonight our dinner was Hearty Lentil-Sausage Soup, which was indeed hearty and on the bland side. Though in fairness, the recipe contributor (Mabel Eshleman of Lancaster, PA) did recommend having Tabasco sauce ready to pass at the table.
Hearty Lentil-Sausage Soup
Brown in 5 qt kettle:
1 lb pork sausage, broken into chunks
Remove meat and pour off all but ¼ c drippings. (Modern sausage and pork in general being leaner than that of 50 years ago, there wasn’t even that much fat left in total.) Add:
2 medium onions, chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
4 medium parsnips, cut in chunks (optional)
Cook five minutes until onions and garlic are tender. Add:
2 c lentils
1 T salt
½ tsp marjoram (I used a full tsp of Italian seasoning since it’s mostly marjoram, and the only marjoram-only spices at my local QFC were ridiculously expensive for an herb I rarely use)
2 c cooked tomatoes or juice (I used a 14 oz can diced plus a small can of tomato paste)
2 qt water
browned sausage
Simmer 30 minutes or until tender. (At 30 minutes the lentils were al dente and the parsnips not quite done, so I let it go another 15.) Cut in diagonal slices:
1 loaf Italian bread
To serve, place a bread slice in each soup bowl and spoon soup over bread. (I had a loaf of take-and-bake garlic bread on the shelf, so I heated that up and served it alongside instead.)