Recipes from Claire Tansey

Creamy Red Lentil Soup with Warm Spices

Serves 4

Prep Time 10 minutes or less

Ready In about 45 minutes

There’s a wonderful bakery and café in Guelph, Ontario, called With the Grain, where I worked part-time for a few years. I made two soups every day from the café’s treasured collection of recipe cards, but every now and then during a busy lunch rush, I’d find myself “in the weeds”—restaurant speak for being up the creek without any soup left in the pot. A simple lentil soup recipe always came to my rescue. Years later, in a pinch about what to make for supper one day, I remembered how easy it was and developed my own. There’s nothing to soak, chop or sauté; you just simmer dried lentils with water, then stir in some spiced butter at the end. When I’m in the weeds at home—rushing out the door after breakfast with no plan for dinner—I’ll chuck lentils and water in the slow cooker and consider supper all but made.

This is a particularly approachable lentil dish for children. Just omit (or reduce) the cayenne and double the honey.

Beef and Barley Soup

Serves 6

Prep Time 20 minutes Ready In about 1 hour

People used to say that searing meat before braising is important because it “seals in its juices.” That myth has long since been busted, but searing still remains a critical step in building rich, deep flavours in meat dishes. It can feel like an annoying additional step, but it’s entirely worth the effort. Searing creates a lovely caramelized flavour not only on the meat but also in the bottom of the pan where the rest of the recipe will be cooked. Without searing, a dish like this tastes a little dull.

This is a simplified way of searing that really reduces the fuss: sear just one slab of meat, then chop it into bite-sized pieces (instead of cutting it up before searing). I never used to make beef-barley soup—even though I love it—because it felt like too much work, but using this technique, it’s faster and easier. Thank goodness, because everyone in my extended family adores this soup. It’s the perfect cold-weather comfort food.