When I sat down to write to you this week the first topic that came to mind was the weather. It’s an obvious segway when the finish line is a hearty bowl of soup. We’re naturally drawn to filling a bowl made to be nestled between frosty hands in need of thawing while steam curls up in small fragrant plumes warming cold noses while inhaling enticing aromas. See? A lyrical path to tread. But the road to today’s recipe is far less poetic, rather it’s a more pragmatic trail of footsteps forged by generations before us, one of diminished time. Allow me to elaborate…
If you trawl through my blog and Substack archive soups are many. Indeed only a few weeks ago I hit publish on a noodle soup of Japanese inspired characteristics inspired by a recent holiday. My soups are usually hearty, relatively easy and always comforting. The characteristics of a good soup is all of the above in my humble opinion. We all have memories of soups from childhood, times of needing consoling, ill health and the like. Most of us can reflect on a parent’s special recipe for which they’re known of a soup or a grandparent or even cultural favourite. It’s a food that reaches across all cultures and almost always features as an offering of love and ubiquitous comfort when needed. Maybe we feel this way because it can take hours to make a pot of soup if you’re taking a more traditional path, simmering and boiling a whole chook or joints of meat to start from the start and make stock, then chopping veg just so and building the layers of flavour and nutrition block by block like a tower in a Jenga game. A labour of love to create and so offered as a symbol of love and bowl of emotions to salve the recipient.
But do we really need to toil over a stove to produce these time-honoured offerings?
Last Friday I had a self-imposed frenzied day of wanting to do all the things. Not sure where the energy or drive was coming from, I went with it. I started with mixing and folding hopping aboard the sourdough train again with my perennially faithful though somewhat neglected starter. A box of gifted apples on the bench stared at me demanding more experimentation so I made jam and the catalogue of holiday photos needing editing called me to be completed. I was happily lost in a creative whirl feeling very self-satisfied and fulfilled chipping away at multiple creative projects at once.
Hubby came home steering clear of the kitchen’s semi-controlled chaos only popping his head up as the light dimmed outside to ask “what’s for dinner?” It was 5pm. Not an especially late hour to start dinner I guess but late’ish for us early diners who’re often done by 6.30. Shocked I looked at the oven clock to discover the advancing hours and then inwardly at a brain that usually spends the day planning my next meal. I had no plan and no idea what I might do.
That loaf of sourdough stared at me from a cooling rack. Empty draws in the freezer and shelves in the fridge mocked me after a few days of determinedly hibernating from the cold in the guise of trying to use up what I had already. Foiled by my own ‘cleverness’ I was forced to mine the last of my culinary creativity from the depths of my suddenly gnawing hunger. So I just started clutching at ingredients.
Assembling and chopping what I thought would come together to create a suitable Friday night meal an idea formed. That idea started coming together, a pinch of this and that and a few quality control slurps and I was pretty happy with the result. So happy in fact we’ve landed here.
This soup is such a keeper. It was super-fast to create, super delicious and very satisfying and will absolutely taste like you’ve been lovingly toiling for hours…I promise.
Ingredients:
1 Tb olive oil
175 gm whole rashers of bacon diced into pieces roughly 1cm square
1 small or ½ a large onion finely diced, this will equal around 100-120 gms
1 small garlic clove peeled and bruised
½ tsp chopped fresh chilli or to taste
1 tsp paprika
1/3 c red lentils
2 x 400 gm tinned crushed tomatoes. I use this one, apologies to Australian tomato farmers.
3 c beef stock
1 tsp dried oregano
Salt and pepper to taste
Parmigiano Reggiano to serve
Method:
In a large heavy based pot warm the oil over a medium heat. Add bacon and cook for five minutes stirring frequently to prevent too much browning. Reduce heat to low and add the onion cooking for a few minutes until translucent but not browned. Add paprika, garlic and chilli and cook briefly until fragrant. Tip in lentils and stir to amalgamate with other ingredients. Increase heat to high and pour in tomatoes and stock stir well. Sprinkle in oregano and bring to boil. Reduce heat to medium low and simmer, gently bubbling for 20 minutes, stirring often to prevent the lentils sticking to the bottom of the pot. It will be done when lentils are completely cooked and the soup is slightly thickened from the lentils and delicious.
You can add a few splashes of water if it’s cooking too quickly and thickening too fast. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Don’t do this until the end as the bacon will salt it so you may not need too much.
Serve with a shower of cheese and crusty toast slathered in real butter for dipping. Slurp smugly while everyone thinks you’ve taken hours to lovingly create a big comforting bowl of love.
Cooking:
~ this gorgeous dish though I did it with lamb but have it queued up for another outing next time with pork. Hubby made special mention of the sauce so that’s extra points for a revisit.
~Popping this one away for lunch. Quite aside from how appealing the mix of fresh, salt and crunch is to me, the attached reflections of motherhood are touchingly beautiful.
Watching:
~ a compelling scottish noir police drama. Dark and captivating, the characters are fascinating and complex proving unexpectedly likeable alongside evil in disguise. The first episode set the scene, from the second scene on we were hooked.
Enjoy the rest of your week friends.
S x
Just saved this recipe to make! Thank you.