C-O-L-D.
This morning the only thing I thought was indeed this. Cold. And against bad weather and mood I know an always good remedy: hot soups. Rustic Potatoes and Lentils Vellutata could be also your new comforting food.
I simply cooked lentils and potatoes in a vegetable stock (but you can also use water).
This recipe can become from good to very good, simply adding a Bouquet Garnì during cooking to eliminate at the end. If you don’t know what it is and how to do it, I’ll wait for you at the end of the post, below the recipe.
Buona cucina, Monica
Food Tip
Despite its name, pink pepper is not a pepper but a spice with an intense though not spicy taste. However, the soul, which is a little woody, can be unpleasant. It is better not to use it. Crumble the pink berry between your fingers and use only the coloured part.
Rustic Potatoes and Lentils Soup Recipe
serves 4
Ingredients
green lentils, 140g
shallots, 3
yellow potatoes, 370g
1 litre of vegetable stock
salt, pink berries, q.b.
olive oil, butter to taste
1 aromatic bunch made w/ sage and rosemary
grated parmigiano reggiano to taste
Directions
Cook finely chopped shallot in a pot for a few minutes with a little oil and butter.
Add peeled and diced potato and mix. Continue cooking over medium-low heat, stirring, for two minutes.
Add lentils and, stirring, cook for 1 minute. Now you can add stock and bring to the boil, then lower the heat and continue cooking until the lentils are soft.
Turn it off, adjust of salt. Blende everything, but coarsely, so that a few pieces of potatoes and some whole lentils remain.
Crumble a red berry on each holster of rustic vellutata, for a stronger flavour of at most two, and add a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil.
Serve hot and with grated parmigiano cheese aside.
Bouquet Garnì
It is used in long cooking preparations, such as broths, soups, sauces, roasts and stews. But, I’ll tell you a little trick, I also use it to transfer perfume to dishes by putting food and bunch to rest together in an airtight container.
You can compose the bouquet as you like, according to the season and experiment to find your favourite. Mine is sage and rosemary because the first one softens the second one which tends to be a bit prevalent but, almost always, indispensable to give character even to a simple, shy lentil. I’m just saying.
Make the bunch by tying the aromatic herbs with kitchen string so that, once cooked, it is easier to remove it. If you use sterile gauze, you can wrap the aromatics and make a small package where you can also put cloves, juniper berries or a cinnamon stick without fear that it will remain in the pot, and then in the dish, some dangerous pieces for your teeth.
If you’re in the right mood for lentils, try another one of my legumes recipes.
