Lentil Soup Recipe/ Best Email Ever

This email just about made my week. 

(Thanksgiving week at that!)

AND

It comes from my FB nemesis.

Oh, what a surprise!

Hey dummy,

this is late. I'm sorry. whatever.

ok. this recipe is greek/mediterranean style lentil soup. I got the recipe from my ex-roomies' Greek father. This guy straight up looked like Zorba the Greek. His name was Churambala Maravelias. 

Or Bobby for short. hAHHAA. If you know my palate, I love and appreciate peasant food. I'm in love with Korean because it's a food of the people. Greek is miscellaneous roots, beans, seafood. I'd rather have a bowl of cioppino or bouillabaisse than say a french lobster bisque, or etc. I love French technique, but applying them to "peasant" staples, e.g., anchovies, roots, etc. etc. 

I say this because I don't know your palate. Hopefully giving a context of my palate will sort of lead you in the right direction. Or not. Whatever. 

I'm not a phene for exact measurements, I tailor the ingredients to the overall dish. That being said, let's begin.

Cook time: 2.5 hours

Ingredients list:

(3-4) medium carrots (medium are usually sweeter, adds subtle sweetness)

(2) medium onions (can be vidalia, texas would refrain from red since I love love strong onion flavor)

(5-6) cloves of garlic 

(2) bulbs of shallots

(1-1.5) cup really good extra virgin olive oil (as he taught, he basically used this as a base. It has to start off with good olive oil)

(2.5 tbps) tomato paste

(3-4) stalks of celery

(3-4) cups of lentils (i usually mix b/w french, green, red. They all produce different taste of creaminess/texture. Red's really good but I love the starchy stable/green

(1-2) tsp of kosher salt

(1-2) tsp of freshly cracked black pepper

(2-3) bay leaves (depends on how "earthy" you want the soup to be. It's a powerful herb. But of course you already knew that. Cos your skin is dark.

(1/3) cup red wine

balsamic vinegar 

(7) cups of chicken stock (you can switch it up and put veg stock/beef but I like the richness the meat adds to bean soup. veg stock is totally cool too).

Prep work:

1.) dice onions into quarter-inch squares. Rough chop

2.) dice carrots into quarters

3.) As a matter of fact, rough chop all the vegies. Nothing too uniform, but still textually appealing 

4.) mince garlic/shallots

5.) While doing this, wash and soak your lentils and add tsp of salt to soak/brine

Big boy/girl time:

1.) In medium-large pot, add copious amount of olive oil (4-5 tbsp) and put on med-high heat

2.) Saute the onions until carmelizing (not totally golden, we still have to saute shallots and garlic)

3.) Add the shallots, then garlic last. Do not burn garlic or it will be bitter. 

4.) Add celery, carrots and sweat. Want the carrots to get sweet. (add lil kosher salt to sweat)

5.) when everything has properly sweated, crack black peppercorn to vegies. If oil has subsided, add more olive oil

6.) Drain the lentils, and throw into pot. Stir pot and make sure to coat the lentils with the garlic/shallot/onion/sweet oil 

7.) Quickly add the chicken stock. Add the bay leaves and the tomato paste

8.) put heat to med and have it simmer for 2 hours with lid on. Check periodically to make sure the bottom is not burning, and the stock is not substantially reducing so that it looks like a jjigae. 

9.) once the flavors have sorta married and mixed (about 45 min-1 hr.) add the red wine. It will deepen your flavors. Can u imagine?? lentil, chicken stock, red wine? man!

10.) add 1/2 cup of olive oil to the soup and incorporate into the stew right after you have incorporated the wine into the stew

Criteria:

1.) the stew should be a stew. Not a soup. 

2.) the color of the stew should be earthy/red. It's dark, not pale. Sorta like your skin before India, not after. 

3.) The stew's flavor should be balanced. Nothing too jarring/attention-whorey. It is rich and a little salty. (you know that perfect saltiness RIGHT after bland? yeah. that's what we're shooting for).

Eating:

When about to eat, add a spritz of balsamic vinegar and some greek yogurt on top. you can add red chili flakes. mix and eat with thick slice of pecorino and french baguette. fucking. awesome. 

and also, you just made lunch for the entire week. 

if the recipe's hard to follow, just call/reply and I'll clarify. Good luck buddy. 

Sincerely, 

The Best

562-688-####

Oh Pedro...