Yum....this one was a real winner!
This is from Flavor it Greek, which is put out by the Philoptochos (Ladies charitable society) of the Portland Holy Trinity community. But I added a secret ingredient--well, not so secret now, hey?
2 large onions, chopped
1/4 cup olive oil (I used my regular amount--you know, a good dollop)
4 cloves of garlic, minced
6 ribs celery, chopped
3 carrots, chopped
1 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon thyme
2 bay leaves
2 1/2 quarts water and/or vegetable broth (I used my homemade that I made from vegetable scraps and leftovers and then freeze--it's really squashy right now because we were getting a ton of squash in our CSA box)
3 cups diced tomatoes (I used a 28 oz. can of fire-roasted tomatoes)
a handful of sun-dried tomatoes, chopped (my secret ingredient!)
2 cups lentils, washed (I used freedom, uh, French lentils ;-)
salt to taste
In a large soup pot, over medium heat, saute onion in oil until tender. Add garlic, celery, and carrots. Reduce heat and continue cooking about 10 minutes. Add all other ingredients. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer about 1 1/2 to 2 hours (I only simmered for 1 hour).
It makes a very large amount of soup. In fact, it filled my 5 quart pot, so that's how much it made. There'll be plenty left for lunches or I could just pull it out for another dinner. We ate it with a nice loaf of whole wheat bread from Grand Central Bakery.
11 comments:
MMM... looks great! I'll have to try this. I also need a copy of "Flavor it Greek"!
:)
It was great to see you on Sunday! What a pleasure. It was nice to meet Hibi, and to see your husband serve (hopefully I'll get to meet him one of these days). I really don't know how I missed Mr. Zac, as my husband took notice of him (and told me later in astonishment "There was a girl in the altar!"hahaha). So HE saw him, but I didn't... don't worry, I set the record straight :)
Take care!
It was good to see you, too, Katie! I really like Flavor it Greek--I've been using it for years, before we knew we were coming here.
Yep, no girls in the altar...yet! But Zac has been an interesting test case. He is a boy, so allowed into the altar. But everyone mistakes him for a girl. And we've not heard any criticism of him (her) being in the altar. So.....just interesting, I think.
i think i'll make that for lunch! thanks
What do you think would happen if I made it without the celery?
I think it'd be lentil soup with no celery! If you don't like celery, leave it out. If you want to include another vegetable to make up for it, do it!
Cool! I figured as much, but since there seems to be a lot of celery, I didn't know if it would be watery.
The Egyptian Lentil soup I make all the time actually calls for chopped celery LEAVES, which I don't have a problem with (somethin' about cooked celery, I really don't like). But every store around here, including Whole Foods, chops the leaves off their celery before they put it out! I've NEVER been able to find celery leaves!
Thanks for the recipe :)
i made this today, but added in all the odds and ends of vegetables left in our fridge since we're going on vacation tomorrow. It was good! It made TONS of soup, and I've frozen enough for three more meals when we get back. Thanks for the recipe.
So sorry for the neverending questions, but I was reading the Laurel's Kitchen Bread Book on the bus this morning (cookbooks make great bus reading :)), and was wondering if you'd ever made the desem bread? If so, was it worth it? It seems quite labor intensive to make the desem, but fascinating at the same time, like a science experiment you can eat!
Hey, questions about bread making, I can listen to for forever and not get tired of. ;-)
Yes, I did try the desem bread once. It was when we lived out at St. Nicholas Ranch, where life was much slower and there wasn't as much to do. It wasn't that it was so much work...it was that you had to find just the right place for it, temperature-wise, and then had to pay attention to it every day for days on end. I think it would be easier if you figured out what time of year has the right temp somewhere in/around your house, and started it then, because after it's mature you just keep it in the fridge (I think?). So, I got it to an almost-mature stage, and made bread with it. We were all underwhelmed. However, I also made crackers with it, and they were spectacular!
I've always thought after that that I should really try it again, because maybe something went wrong, or maybe the fully mature desem would have tasted better, or maybe I'd just be in a place to appreciate it more. But I don't see myself trying it out any time soon, because life is too....too what right now? Unpredictable, maybe.
I would say it was definitely an interesting experience, and I'm not sorry I tried it. It just didn't work out just as I'd hoped.
what it desem bread??!?!!
Desem bread is a type of naturally-yeasted bread, like sourdough bread. You make the starter over many days--I think 10? You have to feed it many of those 10 days and then you bake with part of it and keep the rest in the fridge. It's in the Laurel's Kitchen Bread Book.
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