Vegan Mofo 13: Fig Lentil Soup

I almost skipped this one from 500 Vegan Recipes because it meant an expensive side trip to Whole Foods for dried figs, but my always-intrepid better half reminded me that it's not that big of a deal.

And as it turned out, Safeway had dried figs that were even on sale!

Out of the soups I've made in the past week, this was the most complicated as it called for two pots and had the longest ingredient list. Even still, soup is just easy, so this was no big deal to make. "Complicated" is a gross overstatement.

Listen, there are only so many ways that I can say that the stuff I make tastes good, and so I keep writing that dishes were great or delicious. This soup barely survived the night. I had to hide a portion quickly for my lunch today because it was just so delicious. It was a little spicy and a little sweet, depending on what was in each spoonful. I might have to make more today.

The recipe has you make a soup and a fig spread, but doesn't explicitly tell you how to combine them. For the first bowls, I tossed a spoonful of spread in each, but after the first bite, I realized that the figs would be even better if given a moment to mingle, so I stirred all of the spread into the pot. I figured seconds would be even better ... and they were!

However this soup really knocked it out of the park as breakfast. I had the portion I'd squirreled away, and the resting time allowed the flavors to mingle. Every bite tasted savory like tomato and rosemary, and sweet like figs! I would definitely suggest this as a holiday dinner soup. I might make a tureen of it to haul to my parents' place, where my sisters will be making a gluten-free holiday meal.