Recipe: Ground Pork and Red Lentil Soup

It's been awhile since I shared a good recipe, or any recipe at all. I've been eating outside of my apartment quite a lot. I work fairly late on weekdays {8:30pm}, I often don't feel like cooking when I get home, and it's actually cheaper to grab takeout for lunches at work {usually less than $3 for a portion that will feed me for two meals}.

Then, I realized that I had quite a few odds and ends left in my pantry: red lentils, pork, fennel seeds. What better way to use these than in a soup? I love lentil soup because you can, quite literally, do anything you want with them and the result will be fabulous.

I used this recipe from The Whole Kitchen for inspiration, but used what I had on hand and could easily find {note: no parmesan cheese rind, roasted red peppers, or sausage}. The result was, predictably, delicious. I invited a few of  my girlfriends over to share the massive pot this made, and they both not only downed their bowls, but also demanded the recipe.

If I were in the States, I'd use Italian sausage and skip the fennel and extra Italian seasoning. However, giving the effect of sausage with the seasonings worked just as well.

Ingredients
1 lbish ground pork
2-3 stalks chopped celery
2 chili peppers, chopped {note: you can use bell peppers. The peppers I get here are very similar to Hatch chilies in the U.S.}
1 carrot, chopped
1 small yellow onion, chopped
5 cloves of garlic, minced
cayenne pepper, to taste
italian seasoning to taste
1 T fennel seeds
1 T red wine vinegar
1 cup white wine
1 can chopped tomatoes
1 1/3 cups red lentils, picked over and rinsed
olive oil
chicken bouillon if desired

Directions
In some olive oil, saute the ground pork with fennel, italian seasoning, salt and pepper.
When the meat is cooked, removed from the pot and set aside.
Add a bit more oil and saute onions, carrots, celery, and peppers until soft.
Add garlic, and cayenne to taste.
Saute one more minute and add more italian seasoning, vinegar, wine, lentils and tomatoes.
Add water to cover everything and simmer until the lentils are soft {30-45 minutes}.
Taste halfway through and add bouillon, salt, etc. if desired
Serve, freeze, and eat the leftovers!