Lentil and Vegetable Soup

We are now settling into wintery weather and I am dreaming about food and craving thick home-made vegetable soup - my mother just happened to send me an email with a wonderful recipe for lentil and vegetable soup - which I would like to share with you. As a child growing up in the Spanish islands with my mother and sister, we traditionally had lentil or garbanzo bean soup as a starter to our main meal which we usually ate during mid-afternoon. Some of my fondest memories of living in Spain are of the food we ate - I certainly do miss Spanish meals but once in a while I try to recreate a few of my favourite recipes (with help from my mother who lives in the Canary Islands). I will be posting recipes throughout my journal and will be asking advice from my mother who has a very large ecclectic collection of tasty and delightful recipes. Let's start with this recipe. Thanks for viewing (and tasting!).

LENTIL VEGETABLE SOUP
(recipe and photo from Sharon's Tenerife Journal
- click here to visit website)

printable recipe - click here

Ingredients:

• lentils - 250 grams (slightly over 1 cup)
• garlic - one whole head
• onion - 1 large - quartered
• Kasseler smoked pork chop - 1 large (or 250 grams other smoked pork or bacon)
• ham or pork bone as for making stock
• 4 medium carrots - sliced into coins
• 2 stalks celery - diced
• 5 medium potatoes - peeled and cut into 8ths
• 6 flowerettes of cauliflower
• green beans - handful sliced
• tomato puré - small 4 oz tin
• olive oil - 4 TBS
• fresh garden herbs: 1 bay leaf, several sprigs thyme, Italian flatleaf parsley 2 or 3 sprigs
• chicken stock 1 liter (4 cups) or water and 3 Knorr chicken stock cubes
• salt & fesh ground pepper
• water to cook lentils
• vinegar - 1 teasp
• garlic croutons - optional garnish

Method:

1. Turn on oven to 350F. Put lentils in large heavy bottomed stew pot with water to cover plus about 2 inches, bring to boil and simmer 45 minutes. Check water level and add more as needed.
2. Meanwhile put whole head of garlic into shallow baking pan together with quartered onion, Kasseler or smoked pork and ham or pork bone, drizzle with olive oil and roast in oven at medium heat about 45 minutes.
3. Remove baking tray from oven when all is nicely browned and cut meat into small dice and add to lentil pot along with onion. Squeeze garlic from skin into lentil pot, adding ham/pork bone along with oil and juices scraped from roasting pan.
4. Add rest of vegetables to lentils, chicken stock (or water and stock cubes), tomato puré, fresh herbs and bay leaf, parsley - reserving one sprig, fresh ground pepper. Bring to boil and simmer about 1 hour until vegetables are done, adding more water if needed.
5. When vegetables are tender, remove ham/pork bones and any bare thyme stems from pot, Serve with a bit of chopped parsley and more fresh ground pepper. Homemade garlic croutons are also nice as a garnish.

Source: Recipe as I learned from a Mallorquin housewife years ago.