soup

It has been a crazy few weeks.  We don't know yet what's next for us when our visas expire in the end of October.  I thought about going all into that, but there's still no end of the story, so let's just calm things down a notch with some hot soup.

Mikaela and I are starting a little side project.  We're going to bake challenging desserts and blog about it.  I'll tell you more about that later when we start, but why wait?  This is what I made today: Turkey & Lentil Soup.  It's from a little 'One Pot' cookbook that Forrest insisted we get at Ross a few years ago.

Turkey & Lentil Soup


Heat 1Tb olive oil in a large pan.  Add chopped garlic clove and 1 large chopped onion, cook over medium heat, stirring 3 minutes, until slightly softened.

Add 1 chopped red bell pepper, and 2 tomatoes, skinned, seeded, chopped.  Cook for another 5 minutes, stirring.  (You're supposed to add mushrooms here too, but I'm not that crazy about them and they're pretty expensive here, so... sorry mushrooms.)  (Oh, and you can put in a LOT more tomatoes.  It's just that they are the only food Forrest still won't eat.  Don't worry, I chopped them large enough to pick out easily.)

Ok here's the thing that really different.  The recipe calls for you to put zucchini at the end.  I haven't found zucchini here, so whenever a recipe calls for squash, pumpkin, zucchini, etc, I use zapallo (sah pie oh)  It's a kind of squash.  But it gets way too mushy in  this soup.  But I still wanted the squash family represented, so I pureed it and put it in to fry right now.

Now you put in 4 cups chicken stock and 2/3 cup red wine.  I put in the water I boiled the turkey in, and a chicken bouillon for good measure.  And I'll have to put the wine in when I warm it up to eat later because I don't have any in my house right now.  

Then add 1 chopped carrot and 1 cup lentils (I soaked them to get them soft faster.)

Season with salt and pepper.  Bring to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer half an hour till vegetables are tender and cooked through.  You can also add cauliflower now, but I didn't really like it that way.  Add 12 oz. chopped cooked turkey meat, (and zucchini now) and cook another 10 minutes.  Stir in 1Tb shredded basil and cook another 5 minutes.

Garnish with fresh basil leaves and serve with slices of fresh crusty bread.

I wish I could post a smell on a blog.  Mmm  Now all I want is a maid to wash the dishes.