Tuesday, March 31, 2009

legume consciousness

hey peeps!  if you're looking for a warm earthy soup for the rainy season, try this soup from the home country... i did and twas delicious.  
warning: it makes like 5 thousand servings 
bonus: no fancy blender required! 

modified from Ina Garten's recipe... 

FRENCH LENTIL SOUP










1 cup dry green lentils 
1 onion 
1 leek 
2-3 garlic cloves
3 carrots
5 celery stalks
1/4 can tomato paste
6 cups broth 
1 glass white wine
olive oil, soy sauce, vinegar, lemon juice 
cumin, thyme, red pepper flakes, s+p 
cheez
*chop all the veg into bite size pieces..

1. In a large bowl, cover the lentils with boiling water and allow to sit for 15 minutes. Drain. 
2. In a large pot, sauté onion, leek and garlic in olive oil. add spices and cook until the veggies are translucent and tender. approx 20 mins. Add the celery and carrots and cook for another 10 mins.  oh yeah i didnt have cumin, thyme or red pepper flakes so i added tumeric, terragon and cayenne pepper... makes it nice and spicy. 
3. Stir in tomato paste....i also didn't have this so i subbed in a few sundried tomatoes and half a diced fresh tomato, worked for me! 
4. Add a tablespoon each of vinegar and soy sauce. Add the white wine and let it boil down. Then add the broth and LENTILS. Cover and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer uncovered for 1 hour, until the lentils are cooked through. 
5. Stir in lemon juice and serve hot and sprinkled with some cheese...preferably parmesan, but any hard cheese will do..  Enjoy! 

4 comments:

  1. I love ina garten! Another person who loves to use waaaay too much butter. She spoils that Jeffery (her husband) rotten!

    looks great, annnd something i can do without an oven!!

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  2. i heart ina too! she may be a bit heavy handed with the butter, jeffrey deserves it though - he's soo amazing..

    but the queen of lard award goes to > 1:30 mark: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q12w0e-w438&feature=related
    (ps. i think you should probably tryout as a butter-wrangler..)

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  3. and yes, ive spent way too many hours watching the food network..

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  4. lol, well being a butter wrangler will always be the dream...
    Paula Dean is such a slut, lol. She's always kissing people.

    P.s. i'm coming to watch the food network sometime...i need my fix, i just need alton brown to wow me with his incredible dictionary-like knowledge of food and then i'll leave

    ReplyDelete