Garlicky Lentil Soup

This past week, it was cold and rainy in Boston, and Bret was feeling a bit under the weather.  I had a bag of lentils in my pantry and I looked up a few warm, hearty lentil recipes to make for dinner.  I let Bret choose which recipe for me to make and he settled upon a recipe for Garlicky Lentil Soup from Epicurious.

This recipe was really simple and only required a few ingredients:

• 8 large garlic cloves
• 4 cups cold water
• 2/3 cup lentils
• 1 tablespoon herbs de Provence (the original recipe calls for chopped fresh thyme leaves but the fresh thyme at Whole Foods didn't look so great and I was out of dried thyme)
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh flat-leafed parsley leaves
• 1 1/2 to 2 teaspoons salt
• Extra-virgin olive oil, to taste
• Red-wine vinegar, to taste

The preparation was equally simple.  I poured the water and lentils in my Le Creuset French oven and slowly brought the water to a boil.

While the water was warming up, I sliced up the garlic cloves and added both the garlic and the herbs de Provence to the water.  Once the soup began to boil, I let it simmer until the lentils were tender.

While the soup was simmering, I chopped up the parsley leaves.

Once the lentils were tender, I poured the entire soup mixture into the food processor and pulsed it until it turned into a coarsely pureed mixture.  Once this was done, I poured the pureed lentil mixture back into the pot.

I stirred in the parsley, salt and pepper, and brought the soup to a simmer.

I served the soup with a loaf of nutty flax seed and sunflower seed wheat bread.

And right before serving, I drizzled it with the olive oil and red wine vinegar.

Honestly, the soup wasn't the prettiest and it was a little bland.  I rarely season dishes with more salt but I definitely had to add a little more salt to my bowl of soup.  The red wine vinegar helped the soup but it still wasn't enough.  I think the soup needed some fat - whether through butter or bacon fat.  Still, Bret seemed to enjoy the soup and had a second serving.

Sometimes you can follow a recipe carefully but the end result is a little disappointing.  Have you made or eaten something recently that was a little disappointing?