Lentil soup will fill you up

Some dishes are tagged as comfort foods because of the emotional connections we have with them; they conjure memories of good times, feelings of being nurtured or being carefree. But there is a physical aspect to comfort food as well — the kind that warms you from the inside out, fills you up and leaves you awash with contentment.

This homey soup is definitely in that realm. It’s an earthy and filling bowl of lentils enhanced with Swiss chard, tomato and elbow macaroni, seasoned with a deeply flavorful yet mellow mix of Middle Eastern spices. While it is 100 percent comforting, unlike most feel-good foods that are best eaten only occasionally, this one is incredibly good for you.

Aside from its aromatic seasonings, a few ingredients make it stand apart. First, there’s the Swiss chard, which I consider a “sleeper” kind of greens because it’s just as wonderful but not used nearly as often as spinach or kale. This recipe makes the most of the chard by using both its leaves, added toward the end of cooking, and its tasty stems, added at the start along with the onion so they become tender. Then there are the whole canned tomatoes, squeezed by hand, one by one, before being adding to the pot.

The whole-wheat pasta gives the soup a friendly, lighthearted appeal, breaks up consistency of the lentils and provides a satisfying toothsomeness.

This soup is one of those one-pot wonders that is perfect to make on a weekend so you have a nourishing meal at your fingertips for the week ahead. Make ahead:

3 1

1 8 Nutrition | Per serving: