ImageCarolina Gelen’s lentil tomato soup.Credit...Kerri Brewer for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Spencer Richards.

Is there anything as calming on a busy, hungry weeknight as a five-ingredient, five-star pantry recipe? Just seeing all that white space on an ingredient list and knowing you have everything you need already on hand can be as soothing as watching snow fall on branches on a dusky winter afternoon.

OK, that analogy might be a stretch. But still, if it’s snowing where you are, or if there’s a chill in the air, you won’t find a more warming, simple meal than Carolina Gelen’s lentil tomato soup. Made with both butter and heavy cream browned until the milk solids caramelize, it’s on the richer, plusher side of tomato soup recipes, and all the more sustaining for it.

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Lentil Tomato Soup

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It’s also adaptable, as the best pantry recipes are. Carolina calls for canned lentils, but, as many cooks have reported in the comments, dried red lentils work nicely too if that’s what you have. Use ¾ cup and cook everything a bit longer until the lentils soften. And if you don’t keep heavy cream in the fridge, a can of coconut milk works just as well.

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