Meal of the Moment: Homecooked Red Lentil Soup with Swiss Chard

Sunday, November 29, 8:00 p.m.

In my family, Thanksgiving lasts for the better part of a week; this year was no exception. We kicked things off with a Thanksgiving eve feast of cod chowder and fresh baked bread, then started the big day with a hearty breakfast of scrambled eggs, bacon, and sausage. The morning after, my dad was up bright and early whipping up a potato and turnip gratin and turning leftover stuffing into breakfast hash. That afternoon he was cooking sushi rice for a batch of spam musubi for our homesick Hawaiian cousins. By the time I got back to New York, I was ready for a different kind of home cooking. I remembered a lentil soup recipe I had made last fall, just as the weather had started to turn crisp and cool. It was spicy and smoky, thickened with coconut milk, and shot through with thick twirls of Swiss chard. Eaten with crusty whole wheat bread, it was just what my overtaxed taste buds needed.