Moroccan Lentil Soup -- a #recipe for winter warmth from @LeslieBudewitz

LESLIE BUDEWITZ:  Friends, here in the Kitchen, we take food seriously. We have fun with food; like our characters, we believe in the power of food to express love and joy, nurture community, and be a force for good. In our books, we share recipes we’ve created ourselves, inherited, or adapted from another source enough that we can legally and morally call it our own. Here on the blog, we may share a recipe from another source—a cookbook, a newspaper, a TV chef—but always with credit where credit is due.

So we want to alert you to an alarming trend, discussed by food blogger Adam Gallagher of Inspired Taste in this piece that aired last month on NPR.  Turns out that if you ask an AI program for a recipe for dinner, what you get might be a compilation—a Frankenstein recipe, as Gallagher calls it—mashed together from recipes the LLM or large language model has scanned and digested. AI slop, the experts call this---and it's not limited to recipes. Too often, Gallagher has found, this slop makes no sense; it doesn't turn out well. That’s a waste of your time, money, and food—and does nothing to put dinner on the table.

It does nothing to ensure good, healthy food, or to preserve the food culture we all love and respect. What can you do? Refer only to reliable sources. To cookbooks created by humans. To magazines and newspapers with dedicated food writers. To reliable bloggers like—well, like us. 

Because at Mystery Lovers’ Kitchen, the only slop you’ll find is a Sloppy Joe. In fact, we have two recipes for that American classic, this turkey version from Peg Cochran and a ground beef classic from Valerie  Burns. 

Now for today's food fun. 

Last fall, I met my friend, suspense writer Christine Carbo, who lives across the valley, for lunch. It was a chilly day and the Moroccan lentil soup offered as the day’s special sounded like just the right thing to warm me up. 

And it was. The spicery was particularly tasty. Alas, I forgot to ask on my way out if anyone could tell me what spices the kitchen had used. So I had to make it up for myself.

I found a basic recipe online. As I cooked, I tasted, trying to conjure up the flavors that I’d liked so much. I ended up changing the source recipe quite a bit, adding cinnamon and red wine vinegar. Some folks can’t tolerate cilantro, although oddly, coriander seed—the seed from the same plant—doesn’t seem to bother them. Cilantro is key to getting that Moroccan flavor, so if you’re cilantro-averse, well, this may not be the recipe for you! I will, however, allow you to eliminate the chili flakes if you’re concerned that the flavor will be too hot. Using sweet paprika instead of hot or smoked keeps the heat level down as well. 

We served this with toasted naan; pita bread or a crunchy French bread would work nicely, too.

PS: I finally figured out how to embed a PDF of the recipe for easy printing. 

Scroll down to the 💕 for the link. 

Moroccan Lentil Soup

1-2 tablespoons olive oil

1 medium or 1/2 white large onion, chopped

1 cloves garlic, finely chopped or minced

2 tablespoons cup fresh cilantro leaves, chopped

1 cup dry green lentils

1 cup diced tomatoes (canned tomatoes work well) 

3 cups vegetable or chicken broth

1 teaspoon red wine vinegar 

1/4 teaspoon ground cumin

1/4 teaspoon ground turmeric 

1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

1/4 teaspoon red chili flakes (optional)

1/4 teaspoon Hungarian or sweet paprika

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

salt to taste

fresh cilantro leaves, for garnish

In a small stockpot, heat the olive oil over medium. Add the onion, garlic, and 2 tablespoons cilantro. Cook, stirring regularly, until the onions become translucent, 3-4 minutes. Add more oil as the onions cook, if necessary. 

Add the lentils, tomatoes, and broth. Stir well. 

Add the vinegar, cumin, turmeric, black pepper, chili flakes, paprika, cinnamon, and salt. Stir to combine the spices. Increase heat and bring to a simmer, just below a boil. 

Reduce heat, cover loosely, and simmer 30-40 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the lentils are tender. Taste and adjust seasonings. The lentils will absorb quite a bit of liquid; add more broth or water if the soup isn’t soupy enough for you. 

Garnish with fresh coriander leaves. Serve with bread. 

Enjoy!

Makes 4-6 servings. 

💕 Click here for a free printable PDF! 

At Seattle Spice Shop, owner Pepper Reece has whipped up the perfect blend of food, friends, and flavor. But the sweet smell of success can be hazardous . . .  

Spring is in full bloom in Pike Place Market, where Pepper is celebrating lavender’s culinary uses and planning a festival she hopes will become an annual event. When her friend Lavender Liz offers to share tips for promoting the much-loved—and occasionally maligned—herb, Pepper makes a trek to the charming town of Salmon Falls. But someone has badly damaged Liz’s greenhouse, throwing a wrench in the feisty grower’s plans for expansion. Suspicions quickly focus on an employee who’s taken to the hills. 

Then Liz is found dead among her precious plants, stabbed by a pruning knife. In Salmon Falls, there’s one in every pocket. 

Pepper digs in, untangling the tensions between Liz and a local restaurateur with eyes on a picturesque but neglected farm, a jealous ex-boyfriend determined to profit from Liz’s success, and a local growers’ cooperative. She’s also hot on the scent of a trail of her own, sniffing out the history of her sweet dog, Arf. 

As Pepper’s questions threaten to unearth secrets others desperately want to keep buried, danger creeps closer to her and those she loves. Can Pepper root out the killer, before someone nips her in the bud?

Available at Amazon * Barnes & Noble * Books-A-Million * Bookshop.org * and your local booksellers!

ALL GOD'S SPARROWS AND OTHER STORIES: A STAGECOACH MARY FIELDS COLLECTION, now available in in paperback and ebook 

Take a step back in time with All God's Sparrows and Other Stories: A Stagecoach Mary Fields Collection of historical short mysteries, featuring the Agatha-Award winning "All God's Sparrows" and other stories imagining the life of real-life historical figure Mary Fields, born into slavery in 1832, during the last thirty years of her life, in Montana. Out September 17, 2024 from Beyond the Page Publishing.  

“Finely researched and richly detailed, All God’s Sparrows and Other Stories is a wonderful collection. I loved learning about this fascinating woman . . . and what a character she is! Kudos to Leslie Budewitz for bringing her to life so vividly.” —Kathleen Grissom, New York Times bestselling author of Crow Mary

Available at Amazon * Barnes & Noble * Books-A-Million * Bookshop.org * and your local booksellers!

Leslie Budewitz is the author of the Spice Shop Mysteries set in Seattle's Pike Place Market, and the Food Lovers’ Village Mysteries, set in NW Montana. As Alicia Beckman, she writes moody, standalone suspense, most recently Blind Faith. She is the winner of Agatha Awards in three categories: Best Nonfiction (2011), Best First Novel (2013), and Best Short Story (2018). Her latest books are To Err is Cumin, the 8th Spice Shop Mystery and All God's Sparrows and Other Stories: A Stagecoach Mary Fields Collection, in September 2024. Watch for Lavender Lies Bleeding, the 9th Spice Shop Mystery, on July 15, 2025.

A past president of Sisters in Crime and former national board member of Mystery Writers of America, Leslie lives in northwest Montana with her husband, a musician and doctor of natural medicine. 

Swing by Leslie's website and join the mailing list for her seasonal newsletter. And join her on Facebook where she shares book news and giveaways from her writer friends, and talks about food, mysteries, and the things that inspire her.