Bacon Lentil Soup

By request, here's the recipe, with comments from Doug.

(modified from The Soup Bible, edited by Deborah Mayhew, New York: Hermes House, 1999)

Bacon Lentil Soup

Ingredients:
Bacon (1 pound), sliced into 1 inch lengths. (Pepper Bacon is good for this)
1 medium or large onion, roughly chopped
2 carrots, thinly sliced into rounds (I usually use more like six, and just chunk them)
1 large potato, roughly chopped (or more as desired)
(other vegetables: fresh string beans, parsnip cut as carrot or Trader Joe's Fire Roasted Sweet Corn)
1 cup lentils, sorted and washed (we usually use red lentils--they cook faster)

(Edit: We've discovered that we really like this soup with a leek in it, in which case we leave out the onion.)

Heat a soup pot, add the bacon. Cook, stirring occasionally, until fat is rendered and bacon is crisp.
Add onions, stir thoroughly. Cook until onions begin browning.
Add hard vegetables (corn, carrot, parsnip), stir thoroughly. Cook for 5 minutes.
Add softer vegetables (potato), cook for 5 minutes.
Add lentils. Add enough water to cover all ingredients (about 5-6 cups) and bring to a boil.
Reduce heat and simmer until vegetables are tender and lentils are mushy.
Salt and pepper to taste.
Serve with bread!

We like to remove the bacon from the pot after it's cooked, then add it back to the soup at the very end. That keeps it from getting too mushy. The vegetables still pick up a nice flavor from being cooked in the bacon fat.

I've also made it with black beans instead of lentils.  Also yummy!