Robust Lentil Soup A La Athens Market Recipes

THE BEST LENTIL SOUP

Steps:

• Heat the oil in a large heavy-bottom pot over medium-high heat. Add the carrot, onion, celery and 1 teaspoon salt and cook, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are starting to caramelize and take on a dark brown color, 8 to 10 minutes (this step is important as it will add tons of flavor to your soup!).
• Stir in the tomato paste and garlic and cook, scraping up the brown bits, until the garlic is fragrant and slightly softened, 1 to 2 minutes. Add in the lentils, stock, 4 cups water, thyme, bay leaf, oregano, red pepper flakes, lemon zest, 2 teaspoons salt and a generous amount of black pepper and stir to combine. Bring to a boil then reduce the heat to low. Cover and cook until the lentils are softened with just a bit of bite, 25 to 30 minutes.
• Remove the bay leaf. Puree 2 1/2 cups of the soup in a blender until smooth then stir back into the pot. Stir in the lemon juice and parsley. Ladle into bowls and garnish with more parsley.

EASY GREEK RED LENTIL SOUP RECIPE

Steps:

• Heat 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil until shimmering but not smoking. Add onions, carrots and garlic. Cook 3 to 4 minutes, stirring regularly. Add spices and bay leaves. Cook for a few seconds till fragrant, keep stirring so spices don't burn.
• Add crushed tomatoes, broth, lentils. Season with kosher salt. Bring to a boil, then lower heat to simmer for 15 to 20 minutes, until lentils are fully cooked.
• Remove from heat. If you have the time, let soup cool a bit before using an immersion blender to puree. Pulse a few times till you reach the creamy consitency you are looking for.
• Return soup to heat, and stir to warm through. Add lemon zest, lemon juice, and fresh parsley.
• Transfer soup to serving bowls and top with extra virgin olive oil. If you like, top each bowl with a generous sprinkle of feta cheese. Serve with your favorite crusty bread!

CHICKPEA SOUP A LA PROVENCALE

Steps:

• Soak the chickpeas overnight. Rinse them in cold water.
• Chop the spinach. Pour the oil into a soup pot, add the leeks, and saute over medium heat for a few minutes.
• Add the water, chickpeas, spinach, garlic, herbs and salt and pepper.
• Bring soup to a boil and reduce to low-heat. Cover pot and cook for 50-60 minutes until chickpeas are tender. Simmer for 15 more minutes.
• Blend soup and pour back into pot to reheat. Add butter and croutons to each serving.

SIMPLE MEXICAN SALSA

Steps:

• Chop up the tomatoes to your preferred size.
• Dice the onion (if it is a large onion you may only want to use half).
• Chop up the cilantro and the pepper.
• Put it all into a bowl and squeeze all of the juice from the lime on top.
• Add a bit of salt.
• stir it up.
• enjoy!

GREEK LENTIL SOUP (FAKI)

Steps:

• Prepare the lentils: Lentils are harvested by machine so often they come with small rocks and irregular looking beans that you do not want in your soup. To check the lentils, pour them in small batches onto a plate so they are able to spread out. Give them a quick look over, remove any foreign objects, and dump them into a bowl. Repeat until you have checked all of your lentils. Then fill the bowl with cold water and rinse your lentils 2-3 time to remove any dust or bean skins. Throw the lentils into a big soup pot.
• Dice your carrots and celery and throw them into the pot as well.
• Add 2 boxes of stock to the pot and put the soup on a high heat until it boils and then reduce to medium. Cook for 30-40 minutes or until the lentils are done.
• To finish the soup, turn the heat to low. Now add the oregano and salt and pepper to taste. The soup is finished with a liberal addition of red wine vinegar, which adds an important top note to the soup. We often add it to the soup and then have the vinegar on the table to allow folks to add additional vinegar to their liking.
• Optional Ingredients: Over the years I have tried out other Faki recipes. Here are my favorite additions from those experiments. The bulgur bulks up the soup into more of a stew. Despite how successful the soup can be if you add some (or all) of thee additions, I still most often stick with the basic soup. To add the additions, the tomatoes, spinach, garlic, and/or bulgur wheat goes in at the same time as the stock. The additional spices go in during the seasoning phase.

BBQ NACHOS A LA "FAMOUS DAVE'S"

Steps:

• 1.) Heat up BBQ meat and baked beans in separate containers til hot (microwave is fine).
• 2.) Place chips in a single layer on large serving platter or baking sheet.
• 3.) Place on the chips (in this order): beans, meat, lettuce, tomatoes, sour cream, BBQ sauce, jalapenos, cheese (for the sour cream and BBQ sauce, if you want a bit more precision than just plopping it on top, I'd suggest putting each into separate sandwich bags, cutting of one of the corners and piping it on top of the platter).
• 4.) Serve and enjoy!

ROBUST LENTIL SOUP, A LA " ATHENS MARKET"

Steps:

• Rinse and drain lentils.
• Combine lentils, water, green pepper, carrot, onion, bouillon granules, sage, ground red pepper and garlic in a Dutch oven.
• Bring mixture to a boil and reduce heat to a simmer, covered, for about 30 minutes.
• When vegetables and lentils are tender, stir in sausage and continue to heat until ready for service.
• Serve soup into warmed bowls and garnish with snipped parsley.