Lentil apple soup

It was a perfect sunny September day with high blue sky and gorgeous white clouds. A little wind didn't let you forget that cold days are just around a corner. And occasional red spots on still green trees made you long for more colors of the fall. It was a perfect day for apple picking!

Having a large bag of assorted apples now in my kitchen I couldn't wait to use them right away. Traditional apple pie had to wait until week-end since we were having a pumpkin ice-cream for desert and it was time to cook dinner. So I had to come up with something quick and simple. It was...

1 tbs butter
1 tbs olive oil
1 onion
4 cloves of garlic
1 small apple(*) diced into little pieces
1 tbs of tomato paste
4 cups of chicken broth
1 cup of red lentil

Saute onion in mixture of butter and oil for a few minutes until translucent then stir in crashed garlic and cook for another minute constantly mixing so that garlic doesn't burn. Add tomato paste and apple. Stir to combine then pour chicken broth. Bring it to a boil.
Meanwhile rinse the lentils and add them to the soup. Bring everything to a boil again then lower the heat and cook for about 15-20 minutes until lentil is cooked.
I used blender to break the apple pieces at the end and to make soup smoother but you can leave it as it is for some unexpected bites of sour joy.
Enjoy.

(*) Note. Since we've been picking apples from all sorts of trees growing on the farm I am having hard times now identifying the apple I used. It was one of those red-green/sweet-tart apples.