Let this soup bowl you over — in under an hour

After a holiday season of indulgent meals, nothing satisfies my soul more than a bowl of warm, lemony lentil soup. Featured in “Big American Cookbook: 250 Favorite Recipes From Across the USA” (Grand Central Life & Style, $40), this plant-based dish is the perfect intersection between hearty and healthy; and best of all, it can be made in one pot.

From a small area starting just north of Moscow, Idaho, stretching west into Washington, comes most of the U.S. lentil crop. Though the majority of lentils are exported, the ones that stick around should end up in a soup like this one. If you cook with these legumes often, you’re familiar with the colorful varieties. Take red and yellow lentils: They are absolutely delicious in Indian dal. Then there are brown lentils, my go-to for soups and stews because of their firm texture, which helps maintain their shape particularly well even over the long, slow heat that makes a soup so luxuriously delicious.

My lemony lentil soup comes together in under an hour. I start with a classic French mirepoix of diced carrots, onions and celery (the key to any great soup) and add garlic and rosemary for a magnificent aromatic base that will entice any unconvinced meat lover into the kitchen. Finish this lentil supper with a leafy green, like Swiss chard, and a plentiful amount of lemon juice with zest for a killer tang that will have you savoring the leftovers all week long.

QUENTIN BACON PHOTO