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Feb. 15th, 2007 08:55 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
which_chickI made lentil soup this evening when I got done with the road maintaining activities. I was cold and I wanted something warming. Lentils, well, they're cheap and I had all the stuff on hand for lentil soup. (I actually stopped at the grocery store on the way home to see if there was any decent produce there but there was not.)
The lentil soup actually might go over well at the house of NYR, who isn't eating much in the eggs/wheat/milk families these days. It hasn't got any eggs or wheat or milk in it.
Turkey stock or chicken stock. I used turkey because I have lots from Thanksgiving. All ya'll boiled down your turkey carcasses for stock at Thanksgiving, I'm certain, so you could use that. Of course, if you somehow don't have any turkey stock from Thanksgiving, you could also use chicken stock. You'll need like two or three cups of good stock.
Add about as much water, maybe slightly less, as you have stock. You'd think this would ruin things, but it does not if your stock is quality stuff. It should be the sort of stock that, when not-frozen, makes kind of a jelly liquid in the fridge. We are talking quality stock, above. If you have less-good stock, use all stock and no water unless all you have is two cups of shitty stock in which case make do and pay more attention to the salt and peppering later on. Also, you might add sliced fresh mushrooms if you have 'em -- I find that they perk up otherwise-insufficient stock.
Add some onions and some celery and some carrots. Cut 'em up as suits you. I generally use half a big onion, three carrots, and two stalks of celery. (I really like carrots in my lentil soup. I cut the carrots in coin slices. These are not carrots-as-mirepoix, these are carrots-as-supporting-vegetable. The celery and onion are still mirepoix, though.)
Add a can of whole tomatoes (and the liquid). Cut the tomatoes up into hunks of a size you like. I have some irrational views about using pre-chopped tomatoes, so if you're going that route, don't tell me about it.
Add some lentils. I used about two cups. Rinse 'em well before adding and pour off the chaff bits and floaters. There are chaff bits in most packets of dried lentil and I don't think you want to be eating chaff. It won't kill you, of course, but it's not really a food.
Add a quarter cup of dried parsley. (Parsley goes well with lentils.) Add salt and pepper. Cook until lentils are soft and celery pieces do not crunch anymore. Makes absolutely lots.
I like this lentil thing almost as much as I like The Amazing Tatie and Lentil and Mushroom Stew! I didn't feel like mushrooms and potatoes and mace today, though, so I didn't make The Amazing... I felt like basic lentil soup, which this is.
The grocery store remains unsatisfactory. While I did pull a packet of huge green grapes (from Chile) as per suggestion from brother-the-younger, I didn't find much in the veggie aisle to delight. The broccoli looked like shit. There was not any kale. There were no collards. (The pre-cut bagged collards are, as I have discussed at length in previous posts, entirely un-fucking-acceptable.) There were no leeks. There was no asparagus.
So what did I do? I bought not-green veggies. And a cucumber. What did I get?
A cauliflower. The cauliflowers looked pretty decent so I got one.
An eggplant. The eggplants, for some reason, were really pretty. I don't know what the fuck I'm going to do with this eggplant.
Two yams. The yams were freaking lovely. I like yams BETTER when I can have them with collards, but there were no collards to be had.
What the hell am I going to do with these things? I dunno... but I'll be plumb amazed if it's not some sort of variation on the heat-n-serve theme. I'm open to suggestions for the eggplant as long as the suggestions don't involve breading or frying. And I do have cilantro... and nonfat yogurt. I could do the mom eggplant thing. That's righteously tasty, it is.
The lentil soup actually might go over well at the house of NYR, who isn't eating much in the eggs/wheat/milk families these days. It hasn't got any eggs or wheat or milk in it.
Turkey stock or chicken stock. I used turkey because I have lots from Thanksgiving. All ya'll boiled down your turkey carcasses for stock at Thanksgiving, I'm certain, so you could use that. Of course, if you somehow don't have any turkey stock from Thanksgiving, you could also use chicken stock. You'll need like two or three cups of good stock.
Add about as much water, maybe slightly less, as you have stock. You'd think this would ruin things, but it does not if your stock is quality stuff. It should be the sort of stock that, when not-frozen, makes kind of a jelly liquid in the fridge. We are talking quality stock, above. If you have less-good stock, use all stock and no water unless all you have is two cups of shitty stock in which case make do and pay more attention to the salt and peppering later on. Also, you might add sliced fresh mushrooms if you have 'em -- I find that they perk up otherwise-insufficient stock.
Add some onions and some celery and some carrots. Cut 'em up as suits you. I generally use half a big onion, three carrots, and two stalks of celery. (I really like carrots in my lentil soup. I cut the carrots in coin slices. These are not carrots-as-mirepoix, these are carrots-as-supporting-vegetable. The celery and onion are still mirepoix, though.)
Add a can of whole tomatoes (and the liquid). Cut the tomatoes up into hunks of a size you like. I have some irrational views about using pre-chopped tomatoes, so if you're going that route, don't tell me about it.
Add some lentils. I used about two cups. Rinse 'em well before adding and pour off the chaff bits and floaters. There are chaff bits in most packets of dried lentil and I don't think you want to be eating chaff. It won't kill you, of course, but it's not really a food.
Add a quarter cup of dried parsley. (Parsley goes well with lentils.) Add salt and pepper. Cook until lentils are soft and celery pieces do not crunch anymore. Makes absolutely lots.
I like this lentil thing almost as much as I like The Amazing Tatie and Lentil and Mushroom Stew! I didn't feel like mushrooms and potatoes and mace today, though, so I didn't make The Amazing... I felt like basic lentil soup, which this is.
The grocery store remains unsatisfactory. While I did pull a packet of huge green grapes (from Chile) as per suggestion from brother-the-younger, I didn't find much in the veggie aisle to delight. The broccoli looked like shit. There was not any kale. There were no collards. (The pre-cut bagged collards are, as I have discussed at length in previous posts, entirely un-fucking-acceptable.) There were no leeks. There was no asparagus.
So what did I do? I bought not-green veggies. And a cucumber. What did I get?
A cauliflower. The cauliflowers looked pretty decent so I got one.
An eggplant. The eggplants, for some reason, were really pretty. I don't know what the fuck I'm going to do with this eggplant.
Two yams. The yams were freaking lovely. I like yams BETTER when I can have them with collards, but there were no collards to be had.
What the hell am I going to do with these things? I dunno... but I'll be plumb amazed if it's not some sort of variation on the heat-n-serve theme. I'm open to suggestions for the eggplant as long as the suggestions don't involve breading or frying. And I do have cilantro... and nonfat yogurt. I could do the mom eggplant thing. That's righteously tasty, it is.
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Date: 2007-02-18 05:08 am (UTC)I just finished a week of eating lentils for lunch. I (mostly) followed a dal recipe, but I was using regular lentils with covers on, so I don't think it came out right.
I am frequently raging at the stupid dietary requirements and planning to invite everybody in a year or so to the weaning celebration at the Cheesecake Factory.
Eric left for California and came back and nothing terrible happened, except I let the baby touch the space heater without even thinking that it would be hot. It was educational. He learned that it hurts, but wasn't burned as far as I can tell.
Baby climbed up the stairs all on his own. I was chatting on the phone and following him a step behind at the time, and got halfway up before I realized what was happening.
"Anatomy of a Motive" is the best FBI-profiler-authored book I've read yet, but "Anything You Want Me To Be" is also interesting in a different way (the internet serial killer; not at all the usual serial-killer psych profile, actually an antisocial personality who just kept going).
Wait, don't I have my own blog to put all this stuff in? :)