I'm exploring the world of cooking from my home in Melbourne, Australia. I know I've become fanatical because I now keep cookbooks by my bed! Define esurientes? The hungry! This word pops up in my singing regularly and, for me, the term perfectly combines my passions for good food & good music. Email: esurientes2(at)yahoo.com.au
Saturday, April 16, 2005
Redressing the balance
You know when your body is telling you you've had too much? You've overindulged in butter, pastry, chocolate, sugar, meat, whatever. You come home from work and feel hungry but everything you consider brings up a big "no" or "meh" from inside.
I have discovered an antidote; this soup is filling enough to fill that peckish hole and refreshing and cleansing enough to make you feel both better and virtuous!
I recently discovered the wonder of red lentils. Thinner than green or brown lentils they cook down in about 20 minutes to a thick, tasty sludge. I usually cover them in water and a little powdered vegetable stock for a quick, filling snack. No, they don't look appetising that way, but they hit the spot. Anyway, I defrosted some turkey stock I made after Christmas from the leftover roast turkey and set it to boil with a few handfuls of red lentils and some sliced, home grown zucchini. I didn't set my hopes too high and wasn't expecting much tastewise, but I was happily surprised. The lentils seem to add a nutty sweetness, and the zucchini tasted clean and fresh. My turkey stock surprises me with its sweetly mild taste each time I use it - perhaps I'm just used to using prepared liquid chicken stock, which is quite salty and strongly flavoured.
So, this was a great meal to redress the balance and make my body feel a bit less sluggish and tired. I've since made it a few more times, most recently using the last of the glut of green tomatoes I had - now *that* was a good combination!
I do like lentils. I find the strong colour of the small red ones make beautiful dishes. Zucchini from your garden! How I envy you. Over here we have no more snow but the groud is still frozen. In about a month we will be able to dig and plant. Zucchini will be one of the vegetables I'll plant.
ReplyDeleteNiki - your soup looks and sounds wonderful! I love those little red lentils too. The first time I tried them was in a recipe for pasta sauce from the hungry tiger, which I've now made several times. They're tasty, quick, nutritious and cheap!
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