Embrace the Lentil

So Rachael Ray sort of irritates me sometimes, but despite a bad experience with her gazpacho recipe, we decided to make her Sausage and Lentil Stoup. It was friggin yummy. Chad described it as, "the strangest non-ethnic food I've ever eaten...but it was good."

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 1/2 pounds bulk hot Italian sausage
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
2 portobello mushrooms, gills scraped out, chopped
1 cup shredded carrots
1 cup lentils
1 large starchy potato, peeled and chopped
Salt and pepper
1 bay leaf, fresh or dried
2 teaspoons smoked paprika
3 sprigs fresh rosemary, on stems
1 (14-ounce) can fire roasted chopped tomatoes
6 cups chicken stock
4 cups kale or chard, a small bunch, veins removed and chopped

Heat a medium soup pot over medium high heat. Add extra-virgin olive oil, then add sausage and brown it, then add garlic, onions and mushrooms. Cook a few minutes, then add carrots, lentils, potato, salt and pepper, bay leaf, paprika or substitute mixture and rosemary (leaves will fall from stems as stoup cooks). Add tomatoes and broth and cover pot then raise heat to high and bring to a boil. Uncover pot and place heat back a bit but keep stoup at a good rolling boil. Cook 15 minutes until lentils and potatoes are tender. Wilt in greens in small bunches, remove rosemary stems and turn off heat. Let stand 5 minutes.