a taste of andalucía

From the moment I woke up this morning and saw that it was raining, I knew I wanted to make lentil soup. I'd been wanting to make my first attempt at this dish for a little while, and today (with my shortened work day - or "day off" - due to missing the bus), gave me enough time to give it a whirl.

At the grocery store, I bought lentejas parinas, Spanish green lentils. While they can be used in any lentil soup recipe, I decided to go with a Spanish lentil soup recipe, for obvious reasons.

Lentils need to be soaked before beginning the cooking process. Although, online I read that Spanish lentils don't actually need to be soaked, but that Spanish women do it anyway. My three hour nap created the perfect three hour window for the lentils to soak in cold water before I rinsed them and began the cooking process...

ingredients:
lentejas parinas
olive oil
water
1 big onion
2 garlic cloves
1/2 red pepper
meat stock cube
chorizo ibérico (sausage)
salt & pepper

After chopping the pepper and the sausage, I added them to a pot with the lentils and the meat stock cube and filled it with water (enough to cover the mixture). Spanish lentil soup is not as "soupy" as we normally imagine lentil soup.

In olive oil, I sauteed the onions and the garlic until both were nicely cooked. Then I poured the whole mixture (with the oil) into the pot with the lentils. Add salt & pepper to taste and let simmer for at least an hour, until lentils are fully cooked.

I was happy with my result: a hearty, meaty lentil soup (I was serving a boy as well, otherwise I might have gone the veg route. Plus, no Spanish dish is complete without it's share of Iberian pork, and I've had to resign myself to that fact).

 

(i know it kind of looks like poop, but doesn't all lentil soup?)