Pasta and Lentil Soup

I've had so much fun with my other blog (Shenanigans, Nonsense and other Miscellaneous Ramblings) that I decided I would start a second blog solely dedicated to cooking! I should warn you, I'm no pro. I've never had any formal training, other than Family Studies Food classes in high school. My success rate is somewhere around 50/50 and I am a bit of a klutz. I do still have all of my fingers though, so that's a plus.

My apartment smell so amazing right now. It's the first day of autumn and I have a pot of my favourite homemade soup simmering on the stove. How awesome is that??!! It's a rather simple Pasta and Lentil soup that I got out of the October 2011 issue of Food Network Magazine. It's so good, that I had 2 bowls for dinner.

Here's the recipe and my take on making it:

5 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1/2 onion chopped (or finely chopped if you're like me and don't like onions! But the flavour is great)
4 cloves of garlic, smashed. I sometimes chop them into chunks. If the cloves are small, I use more.
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes - the soup is not spicy. This just adds flavour.
2 tbsp tomato paste
2 cups low sodium chicken broth (use regular if you want, just be careful with the salt later)
4 cups of water
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese, plus 1 piece cheese rind (optional) - adding the rind adds crazy flavour. I know it sounds odd, but it's good. If you buy parm cheese that hasn't been shredded, you can get a piece with the rind still on it. Just cut it off (you can see a colour difference where the cheese ends and the rind begins) and toss it in!
8 ounces (just over 2 cups uncooked) orecchiette or other small pasta ( I went to a speciality Italian shop to find orecchitte. I've used wagon wheels and small shells before and they all work).
2 14oz cans of lentils  - 1 with liquid and 1 drained and rinsed (Problem I have is that I can only get 19oz cans and it makes a difference when cooking - too thick if you use the 19oz. So I just take 5-6 tbsps, liquid and lentils,  out of each can. I then drain one and continue).
1/3 cup roughly chopped fresh parsley (or cheat like me and use the dried stuff. LOL).
Kosher salt (or just normal salt)

1.Heat the olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add the onions, garlic and pepper flakes. Cook, stirring occasionally until the onion is slightly soft, 2-3 minutes. If you want, you can remove 1 tbsp of the oil and reserve it to drizzle over the soup later. I skip this. I usually end up burning myself :)
2. Once onion is soft, stir in the tomato paste and cook, stirring, for another 2 minutes.

3. Add the chicken stock, water and cheese rind if you're using it. Bring to a boil. Add in the pasta and cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.

4. Add in the lentils and lentil liquid from one can. Reduce the heat to low and simmer for 10-15 minutes or until the pasta is tender.

5. If you saved the oil, mix it with 1 tbsp of water and 1 tbsp of fresh parsley. If not, just skip this!
6. Remove the cheese rind (if you added it). Stir in 1/4 cup of the grated parm cheese and the parsley. If you're using fresh, I add about 2tbsp of dried. Stir. Taste the liquid. Add salt to taste.

7. Ladle into bowls and top with the remaining parm cheese and drizzle with the oil if you did that step.
Serve with crusty bread and enjoy!

This takes 35-45 minutes to prepare and feeds 4-6 people. It freezes well. Sometimes when you re-heat it, the pasta gets mushy. If you're going to freeze a lot of it, omit the pasta and freeze. When you're re-heating it, add the pasta and boil for 10 minutes.

I hope you like it as much as I do!

Sarah