I work at Downtown Crossing near the Filene's Basement building. When I used to buy my lunch (that is a no-no now, since I am not spending money) I would go to this amazing place that was literally a hole in the wall of the Filene's building called Mediterraneo (sp?) and I would buy their lentil soup and it was amazing. It was agreed in my office that it was probably the best lentil soup
*ever* - but I was truly the strongest adherent. It also came with mouthwatering warm pita - for which I broke my whole grain oath. This was an oath-breaking kind of place.
The Filene's building and everything in it have closed until 2009 or some other godforsaken time when I will probably not be working here anymore. Mediteraneo didn't make it, and so my lentil soup life has been really lacking. I've looked for substitutes, but they're just not right. Nothing in a can compares. The Whole Foods one is too watery, the Bagel Plus one is too oily. I haven't even tried the Finagle A Bagel one because it's too expensive.
So it's been many months since I had good lentil soup, and in the summer and when it was still warm, that was sad but OK, but now I am just over it. So I decided to try to make my own. I read like 18 recipes on the internet, and finally decided to use Post-punk Kitchen's French Lentil Soup recipe as my base: http://www.theppk.com/recipes/dbrecipes/index.php?RecipeID=105
I managed to make it without going to the store too - everything I needed was in my house! yay simple food.
I drizzled some olive oil in my big stock pot, and then added a whole chopped yellow onion and a huge cubed carrot both from the farm share. I added the onion first, but I let the whole thing saute for quite a while - till it almost smelled like it was burning (but then not quite). Then I chopped pretty much an entire head of garlic (6 cloves?) and added it in, along with a teaspoon and a half of paprika, a teaspoon and a half of thyme, a big dollop of Dijon mustard (Grey Poupon, there was a theory in my office that the secret ingredient in Mediteranneo's soup was mustard) and a teaspoon and a half of salt and probably two teaspoons of pepper (I would have added less salt, I think). after about two minutes I plopped in half of a one of those very large cans of crushed tomatoes and stirred. Then I covered it and let it simmer for 5 minutes.
After 5 minutes, I uncovered the pot and added 4 cups of water and two veggie bullion cubes and brought it to a boil with the cover on. Then I took the cover off and added 2 cups of generic lentils from stop and shop and 2 bay leaves to the soup and stirred. I let it cook for about an hour with the cover on and then added about 1.5 cups more water. Then I brought it to a boil and let it cook for about 15 minutes with the cover on, and then another half an hour or so with the cover off.
I think I took some pictures, but I don't have them uploaded yet. I'll add them when I get them.
The soup came out really well, it was very thick, which is what I prefer, and I served it with some warm crusty bread, which is always a plus, It reheated well with a tablespoon or two of water added per serving before reheating in the microwave. It wasn't quite mediteranneo - I think it was a little too tomato-y, but I think the mustard gave it the right kick.
I'm going to make it again soon, I think!
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What's the Big Idea?
one morning over a rainy, relaxed breakfast with exceptionally strong coffee, it was suggested that gina marie start a food blog. this suggestion was quickly expanded to include the other people at breakfast - sarah emily and sarah elisabeth. we really had no idea for this venture other than good food blogs usually have pictures. we'll have to have pictures, we decided - as long as there are batteries in our digital cameras.
we all live in cambridge, massachusetts and enjoy cooking. we like talking about cooking, hanging around in the kitchen while someone else is cooking, and eating well. sometimes, the things we make fail. sometimes they succeed and then we get to brag about it.
we all live in cambridge, massachusetts and enjoy cooking. we like talking about cooking, hanging around in the kitchen while someone else is cooking, and eating well. sometimes, the things we make fail. sometimes they succeed and then we get to brag about it.
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2 comments:
soak the lentils! i'm making this right now, and sarah's on a plane, so i can't ask her what the other updates on the recipe are, so i'm trying to wing it and hope it turns out ok, but in case she never remembers to update this recipe, all i know is: soak the lentils!!!
Gina made excellent soup!!! the deal with the soaking is that I was having trouble maintaining any broth at all. So the recipe stays the same except that when you start cooking, pour 2 cups of water in a bowl with your two cups of lentils. When the recipe says to add the lentils just dump in the whole bowl of lentils along with any water that happens to be left.
Other changes include using no salt, using no-chicken broth to replace half the water (and reducing the bullion cubage accordingly) using a can of diced tomatoes instead of half a giant can of ground tomatoes, and not adding any salt (especially if you use broth instead of bullion.)
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