Red Lentil Soup w Fried Radishes and Snap Peas

Today is Father's Day, and while all my dear sweet husband wanted today was just to relax, I wanted to at least make him a special dinner.

I had a few left over things from our first CSA share pick up yesterday, and some gigantic radishes from the market earlier in the week and a shitload of lentils, so I decided on soup. I didn't have any vegetable stock or bouillon handy, so I had to improvise. God knows I love some MacGuyver cooking. I kept evolving the recipe in my head as I was cooking, adding a little of this and a little of that. I was ecstatic with my results

All ingredient amounts are approximate, as I do not measure and prefer to eyeball it.

2 shallots
5 cloves of garlic
1 1/2 cup of red lentils
pinch of cumin
sherry vinegar
chili oil
4 cups of water
1 cup of wine
4 jumbo radishes
handful of snap peas
olive oil
salt
pepper
splash of milk

Roughly chop the shallots and garlic in oil, pepper, and cumin. When they're nice and brownish add the lentils and stir around for about a minute or two. Add the water and wine and bring to a boil. After about 20 minutes check for tenderness. If they're soft enough, go ahead and add the salt, sherry vinegar and chili oil. I use piri piri which is a Portuguese chili that I am obsessed with. Use a hand blender to thicken the soup, adding a splash of milk if necessary.

Seperately, slice the radishes into discs, but not too thin. In a heated pan with oil, add the radishes with salt and pepper. Let the radishes caramelize a bit on each side. When radishes start to brown, add the snap peas and maybe a splash of chili oil too for fun. Once the radishes are fully cooked, serve on top of yr soup.

Surprisingly amaaaaazing.