Turkish Red Lentil Soup With Minted Butter And Spiced Croutons

• Soup
• 1 cup red lentils
• 1/2 onion, diced
• 1/2 red pepper, diced
• 1 bay leaf
• 6 cups home-made vegetable (from scraps) or chicken broth
• 2 tablespoons butter or ghee
• 1 tablespoon dried mint
• 1 lemon
• Spiced Croutons
• 1/2 cup day-old good bread, cut into 1-inch cubes
• 1 tablespoon butter or ghee
• 1 teaspoon Turkish red pepper flakes (Spanish smoked paprika also works wonderfully)

1. Rinse red lentils and soak in water for at least 30 minutes, preferably overnight.
2. Add lentils, chopped onion, red pepper, bay leaf and 6 cups of broth of your choice to a medium saucepan. Bring to boil, then turn down heat and simmer for about 20 minutes or until the lentils are beginning to dissolve.
3. Remove bay leaf and puree soup in a blender or with a hand-blender until fine. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
4. In a small pan, melt butter, then add mint and saute for a few seconds. Turn off heat and set aside.
5. For the croutons, melt butter with red pepper flakes, then add bread cubes and fry in the pan until reddish golden.
6. Serve the soup drizzled with minted butter, a few spicy croutons and a squeeze of lemon. Afiyet olsun!

red lentils, onion, red pepper, bay leaf, homemade, butter, mint, lemon, croutons, bread, butter, turkish red pepper

Taken from food52.com/recipes/20992-turkish-red-lentil-soup-with-minted-butter-and-spiced-croutons (may not work)