Recipe 32: Rosemary Lentil Soup

I had been craving a big bowl of simple lentil soup for a few weeks before I finally got around to purchasing the most important ingredient: lentils.  But clearly I did, or I wouldn't be posting this, eh? This recipe was initially not what I signed on for; I did not anticipate there would be as much tomato.  As I was craving straight up lentil, I got a little fussy in the cooking, convinced the tomato would be completely overpowering.  And I was right, until I bumped up the spices and it didn't matter as much.  As I found, it's definitely a soup that gets richer as it sits longer.  Plus, you can hardly go wrong when there is bacon involved.  I determine this to not have been the lentil soup of my wildest peasant soup craving hopes and dreams, but darn good nonetheless.

These tomatoes are mocking me with their wholeness.
And also kind of look like eyeballs.

The recipe comes from The Soup Bible, which is great except for the directional to use a 14 oz. can of plum tomatoes.  Well, fine...but what are we talking here?  Whole tomatoes?  Diced?  Ground?  I went for whole, but then couldn't find a 14 oz. can, and had to use half a 28 oz. one.  To boot, as you can see, I found the whole tomatoes to be...ridiculous. While they may have broken apart in the cooking, I didn't want to count on it, so I hauled them out and showed them the sharp end of the knife.  Additionally, as with any dried beans you use, make sure to sort them and pull out any nasty clumps of rock, dirt, or frankenbeans.  As per, serve it with crusty bread and some sharp cheese or a salad on the side.  This soup is also quite good with your favorite red wine (I guess those tomatoes were good for something after all!).

Rosemary Lentil Soup

Adapted from Debra Mayhew's The Soup Bible

(Serves 4-6)

Guess who forgot to take a picture of the final product?  Oops. 

Click on for the recipe, chef:

Tibits: Fishing without bait, evil girl scout geniuses, Nook (is not a dirty word), books as art, etc.

• Oh hey you guys. A super cute picture of the Perks of Being a Wallflower Christmas party scene.  Sure they look cute and all.  Sure, fashion today kind of mirrors that of when the book is set.  BUT.  I hope they still give each other mix tapes!

This house looks suspiciously modern.

• Downton is (almost) BACK!  Which means my crush on myself is totally making sense after taking the Downton Abbey Quiz.   I'm Matthew Crawley.  Ladies, ladies, calm down.  There's enough of me to go around!  If you need a refresher, the FYA one is highly amusing.  It is the only thing I've ever seen in favor of Lady Edith, who, as a review I read yesterday alleges, "continues to fish without bait."  Oooh Lady Edith!  Incidentally, I'm looking pretty good in the picture used for that review.

• Nook for sale?: I know this sounds dirty.  But get your mind out of the gutter for just one second and we can discuss seriousness.  Is it just me or does this article contradict itself?  All I took from it was that Nook is doing okay, so they want to sell it.  What? 

• New York Times correction:  Just stop.  

• Carved Book Landscapes: These are SO COOL, also gorgeous.  I want them to be on display somewhere nearby so I can actually get up close and ogle them.  

• My first thought on seeing this piece on Christopher Paolini's house: did Christopher Paolini start lifting?  My second thought: when did he become older than me?

• Those little Girl Scout minx's are tempting me with their goodies again.  I'm totally going to buy me some Savannah Smiles.

Case of the Terribles: Facebook in the shower

Places Facebook doesn't belong?  A few choice places come to mind: bedrooms, hospital birthing rooms, bathrooms...which is curious because I've found something that may have changed my mind:

  Yes.  That IS a Facebook inspired shower curtain.

Yours for the low low prices of fifteen UK pounds (about 150 American dollars these days!).

Resolution 2012: The Year We All Get Classy and Ride the Dinner Train

Friends, countrymen, foreigners, frenemies,

  

Happy 2012!  Despite being the year the Mayan calendar predicts we will all die (though I’m slightly disinclined to believe the apocalyptic predictions of people who squished their own skulls with boards for fashion, but do admit that the Mayans and co were also responsible for chocolate…so I could be totally wrong here), 2012 is also rumored to be the year that awesome things happen round the world (even if the world ends), STARTING HERE.  Drum roll pleaseeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.

I have set a lofty goal for myself in the new year, being 2012.  I resolve to become cultured! Well read! End my librarian secret shame and finally read a Dickins!  And, obviously, eat well while doing so. 

  

For each book, I will be creating an appropriately themed menu and hosting a dinner/brunch/tea party to debrief.  You may better recognize this concept by its pedestrian name: book club.   Obviously, I have recruited only the tastiest of tastemakers to these exclusive events (so if you want in, let me know).  At the end of the month I will post all recipes here, along with a summary of my/our thoughts about the books.  Thusly, even you, foreign friends (as in anyone who doesn’t live in the same city as moi), can also read along and eat with us (after the fact, but still!).  Outsourcing into your own home is welcome, especially if you live in far far places, and photographic evidence is encouraged! 

Titles and months are listed below:  

January - Count of Monte Cristo

February - Anne of Green Gables

March - Middlemarch

April - Anna Karenina*

May - Little Women

June- Catch 22

July - Moby Dick

August - House of Mirth

September - Phantom Tollbooth

October - Frankenstein

November - 1984

December - Great Expectations

If you do want to participate and ride the dinner train with us, I happen to know you will have the best year EVER, filled with chocolate, lottery wins, laughing babies, and my undying love.  If you don’t want to partake, I happen to know that you will have a year filled with chocolate and laughing babies, but also paper cuts (kidding, it’ll be a fab and happy 2012 for you too!).   BRING IT, 2012!

I resolve to have twice as much fun reading classics while wearing twice as many pearls as this lady!

*This may be ambitious.  

Recipe 33: Spicy Chickpea and Butternut Squash Soup

Recipe 33: Spicy Chickpea and Butternut Squash Soup

(adapted from the New England Soup Factory Cookbook)

Spicy Chickpea and Butternut Squash Soup
Also the moment I realized four more cups of liquid were NOT going in peacefully.

     Somehow, someway I made it to late December without having cooked butternut once.  I know, RIGHT?  I decided to remedy this late last week and restock my freezer with some soup in preparation to be lazy when I have to go back to work after two weeks of vacation and instantly turn into an under-napped toddler and whine about not wanting to cook when I get home.  I like to stay a step ahead of myself!  Thusly, I decided to try a new butternut recipe that had some spice and sweetness to it, and went for the New England Soup Factory cookbook's recipe.  Except remember how the recipes from here make massive amounts of food? Yeah.


     There was no way 12 cups of stock plus approximately 7 more cups of stuff were fitting into my 6.75 Qt Le Creuset pot an imminent and epic soup spill.  So I went rogue when I realized this (always halfway into the recipe; I'll never learn!) and switched it up a bit.  I was worried about it being too salty or too sweet, but it came out pretty well, so I feel pretty good about you being able to alter it without major repercussions.  Additionally, I'm not entirely sure why the recipe calls for as much stock as it does...my version with full amounts of veggies and less stock still had an uneven stock to fixin's ratio, making me wonder how ridiculous the stock to fixin's ratio would be with four more cups of fluid to dilute it.  The flavors are good, and it even cutting back on the broth made enough for me to have four meals and freeze about 6-8 more servings.  I didn't get my ginger defrosted in time but would have loved to use fresh ginger in place of ground ginger spice here to enhance the flavor.  Personally, I like a decent amount of spice; the original recipe called for scotch bonnet but the grocery store only had adorable habaneros (I think that is what it was....).  Let me know if you try, enjoy!  If you prefer to try the original, I suggest you get a copy of the book: New England Soup Factory Cookbook: More Than 100 Recipes from the Nation's Best Purveyor of Fine Soup








Recipe: