Happy New Year! Lentil Soup

Happy New Year! With the little matter of 2011 behind me, I'm excited to share with you one of my family's traditions for New Year's Day. If you happen to have lentils in your pantry, you, too, can create this soup today. Otherwise, I'll remind you next year, and you'll be all set for financial gain and good luck in 2013.

For as long as I can remember, my family has been celebrating New Year's Day with a bowl of lentil soup. My godparents, Kathleen and Mike, always invited us over for both soup and also cannoli. I tried typing "cannolis" or "cannolies" just now, (because you can't each just one) but upon further research, it appears that cannoli is actually plural, and the singular is cannolo. I was also excited to learn that these 'little tubes' are Sicilian in origin, which is from where my grandmother's family immigrated to America. But enough about dessert, let's talk soup:

Lentil Soup
(served on New Year's Day for good fortune in the coming year)
adapted from Dom DeLuise's book Eat This... It Will Make You Feel Better

8 oz dried green lentils (227 grams)
4 cups veggie broth (1 liter)
3 cups water (750 ml)
2 Tablespoons olive oil (2 eetlepels)
1 medium onion, diced
2 to 3 garlic cloves (you can use more if you like), minced
4 to 5 carrots, chopped
4 stalks celery, chopped (cut in half length-wise and then slice)
1 bay leaf

In a large soup pot, combine lentils (sort through them, make sure there are no foreign objects), broth and water. Bring to a boil, and simmer for 30 minutes. Lentils should be just tender, but not falling apart. Chop the veggies, and when there is ~15 minutes left on the lentils timer, heat a saute pan with the olive oil. Place the onions in the oil, sprinkle with a pinch of salt, and cook on medium heat until onions are translucent, about 8-10 minutes. Stir them often to prevent burning. Add garlic, carrots, and celery and cook for another 5 to 7 minutes, stirring often. You might need to add another tablespoon of oil or so if the mixture is sticking to the pan. The lentil timer should be going off at this point, so add the veggie mixture to the lentil soup pot along with the bay leaf. Simmer this for another 10 to 15 minutes, checking the carrots. I like my veggies done aldente, so if you would prefer them cooked longer, go for it. The soup can be topped with grated Parmesan cheese and served with bread, or as we did today, grilled cheese sandwiches. Enjoy!

The two-pan technique of this soup ensures your veggies are not cooked to oblivion, a flaw in many recipes online. By cooking the veggies separately from the lentils, the flavor and texture of the veggies is preserved. If you eat this soup on New Year's Day, you will be wealthy in the coming year, according to the Italians, for whom lentils signify good luck (their recent financial situation aside). If you don't trust the Italians, the Brazilians also believe lentils signify wealth, so you've got that going for you, too.

Simple Soup

A hot bowl of soup when you feel a cold coming on is so soothing. As my friend, Viktorija would say, "Use whatever veggies you have." or "Relax"! Take her advice- I know I should!

In French cooking, carrots, celery, and onion minced and mixed together can be the main part of your broth- Mirepoix if you will. If you are lucky enough to have leftover chicken on hand, or a whole, uncooked chicken, you can use it to make the stock. If not, simply chop equal parts carrots, onions, and celery (1 cup of each if you need exact measurements) and throw it all into a pot with some olive oil coating the bottom (1 tsp or so). Stir, on medium heat, until the onions are fragrant. The veggies will not be 'done' yet, but go ahead and add 4 cups (1 liter) of boiling water or (preferably) broth or stock. I use bullion cubes to make my broth when I'm lazy, or if I'm industrious, I create stock from scratch by boiling a whole chicken with a bunch of veggies, straining this completely, stripping the meat off the chicken bones and then using the strained broth at this point in the process (add the cooked chicken pieces at the last minute, if desired).  Bring the mixture to a boil, stirring occasionally and then time the addition of any other veggies you like, such as broccoli (takes 5 minutes to cook), cauliflower (3 minutes), sweet peppers or herbs (add at the last minute). If you are adding potatoes, I recommend doing so when you saute the carrots, celery, and onion in the first step, or right after you bring your mixture to a boil. If you are crazy about veggies not being over cooked, you can also start your stock/broth boiling, add potatoes, cook for 15 minutes, then add the carrots, celery, and onion and cook for another 10 to 15 minutes. However, I really prefer the onions sauteed a bit with the olive oil(and a pinch of salt) at the start, so that they get a bit caramelized.

Serve, piping hot, with Parmesan cheese or a swirl of extra virgin olive oil on the top along side some homemade French bread. If you want your soup to be a noodle soup you can add the pasta (preferably something small like ditalini) as soon as your mixture has come to a boil after you've added the broth or stock or water. If you only use boiling water you will definitely need to salt your soup!

October is here! Squash Soup all around!

The fall season makes me so happy. Crisp, chilly mornings giving rise to gorgeous bright crunching leaves days reminds me of going back to school and the upcoming HALLOWEEN! Outside our bedroom window we can see our neighbor's maple tree and it has just started changing to a deep pink and bright orange with some bits of yellow. Gorgeous! Squash and pumpkins are on the market now and I was fortunate enough to buy some (including a typical American style pumpkin for Halloween!!) when we were in Germany a couple of weeks ago.

 

I spent 20 euros on these puppies because we didn't have change and I was so excited to see the road-side stand with the American style pumpkin I just kept putting them in the box until I had 20 euros worth. Mental note: 20 euros of pumpkins makes me quite happy for many days. And my kid, too!

Look how happy she is with the funny double-pumpkin! The two green ones at Dina's feet are called Buttercup squash and they are outstanding.

Fine Cooking once published a Buttercup squash and leek soup which I've long forgotten the exact measurements, but here is the method:

Make or purchase broth- preferably a veggie broth. You will likely need about 2 cups (500 ml) for one squash and 2 leeks.  Next, get a stock pot and add your rinsed, chopped leeks (about 2 leeks, or one if your squash is small or your leek really large). If you haven't cooked with leeks before here's a little info video I made:

Next, you'll slice your squash in half, scoop out the seeds with a spoon and flip it cut side down. Carefully cut the skin of the squash off, using the cut side down method as much as possible to prevent your knife from slipping on the tough skin. Cube squash into 1 to 2 inch squares and throw these on top of the leeks. Next, pour in enough broth to almost come to the top of the squash. If you cover the squash with the broth you will have a thinner soup. I prefer a thicker soup, but either way will work.

Bring your pot to a boil and once it is boiling, simmer for about 20 to 30 minutes or until you can prick the squash pieces with a fork and they just fall apart. Next, use an immersion blender to blend the hot soup together and make a nice smooth texture. If you don't have a hand held blender, you can do it in batches in a traditional blender. Just makes for more containers to clean-up.

Serve it, piping hot, with a dab of butter or extra virgin olive oil. I prefer the flavor of butter, as shown above. To prevent the squash soup from being too thin: before you blend the soup with the blender, remove some liquid, taking care to leave the leeks and squash in the pot. Sometimes I remove about 180 ml (1/2 cup) or more, if I think the squash seemed to release a lot of water. Don't throw this away! Keep it and then, blend the remaining squash, liquid and leeks and check the consistency. If it seems too thick, I slowly add the reserved liquid until I reach the desired thickness.

You can find these buttercup squash at the local markets (definitely the Eindhoven market on Saturday mornings) and also Genneper Park (I am starting to feel like an advert for them!) sometimes has them in their farm market. 

If you wish, you can substitute butternut squash (Flespompoen) for the buttercup, but you'll be missing out on something. Butternut squash is good, no lie, but trust me: the buttercup squash will blow you away.

Happy Fall, everyone!