Saturday, June 24, 2017

Jacob's Lentil Minestrone: 6 '17



We had a wonderful meal at a local Italian restaurant earlier this week.  Bruce liked their Minestrone soup so much that he asked me to try to re-create the dish.  We spent most of Saturday testing out my interpretation.  I  can honestly say, I think that my version came out better than the original.  So here's the recipe for Jacobs' Minestrone:

Jacobs  Lentil Minestrone Soup 
Ingredients:
·         (3)  tbsp olive oil
·         (1)  cup minced white or red onion ( about 1 small onion)
·         (1/2)  cup chopped summer squash ( zucchini and/ or yellow  crookneck squash)
·         (1/2)  cup Italian cut fresh or frozen beans (we couldn’t find the flat beans so we used fresh green beans cut to ½ inch
·         (1/4)  cup minced celery
·         (4)  tsp minced garlic ( about 4 cloves)
·         (4 )cups vegetable broth ( we used Swanson's)
·         (1) 15 oz can Great Northern white beans
·         (1) 15 oz can white navy beans
·         (1/2) cup dry  lentils
·         (1) 14 oz can diced tomatoes ( we used 3 large fresh Roma tomatoes diced)
·         (1/2) Cup diced or shredded carrots ( we used shredded)
·         (2) tbsp minced parsley
·         ( 1 ½) tsp fresh or dried oregano
·         ( 1 ½) tsp salt
·         (1/2) tsp ground black pepper
·         (1/2 ) tsp basil ( we used about 8  tsp fresh half in cooking half just before serving)
·         (1/2 ) tsp fresh or dried thyme (we used about ¼ tsp dry in cooking and ¼ tsp fresh f just before serving
·         (3 ) cups hot water
·         (4) cups  fresh baby spinach
·         (1/2) cup shell  or small tube pasta
Directions
·         Heat three tablespoons oil in large soup pot
·         Saute onions garlic celery zucchini in oil until onions begin to turn translucent
·         Add vegetable broth to pot plus tomatoes, drained beans, lentils, carrots hot water and herbs
·         Bring soup to a boil then reduce heat and let simmer until lentils are a-dente (approximately.  20 to 30 minutes
·         Add spinach leaves and pasta and cook and additional twenty minutes, or until pasta shells are cooked to taste.)
·         Add remaining herbs just before serving

·         Makes about (8) 1 ½ cup servings

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