Kathryn Purcell via Gina Depalma via Secrets of the Best Chefs
SERVINGS: 6 TIME: ABOUT 1 hour
This soup is hearty and so good! It freezes well. You could easily make it vegetarian by skipping the sausage. And you could make it vegan by not using the sausage and romano cheese.
*8 ounces of sausage meat is roughly 2 links. I have used up to 4. Use as much or as little as you choose.
2 large links (about 8 ounces) of sweet Italian sausage [see Note] 1 medium onion, diced
2 celery ribs, sliced or diced
2 medium carrots, peeled and sliced into half-moons or diced
4 cloves garlic, sliced (reserve half for later in recipe)
Kosher salt
A pinch of crushed red pepper flakes (optional)
1 cup brown lentils, sorted and rinsed
2 bay leaves
1 28-ounce can crushed tomatoes
6 cups water
Freshly ground black pepper
3 to 4 cups shredded or thinly ribboned Swiss chard leaves or kale Grated Pecorino Romano cheese to finish
On the stove: Heat 1/4 cup olive oil (enough to generously coat bottom of pot) in a large pot on medium to medium-high heat. When hot, add the sausage, breaking it up with a wooden spoon until it starts to brown, about five minutes. Add the onion, celery, carrots, first two garlic cloves, a pinch of salt, and if you like your soup spicy, a pinch of red pepper flakes. Cook with the sausage until the vegetables soften a bit, another 5 minutes. Add the lentils, bay leaves, tomatoes, water (6 cups is, conveniently, a little less than 2 empty 28-ounce cans, so you can get any tomato pulp you missed), more salt and black pepper to taste. Bring to a simmer and allow to cook until the lentils are tender, about 40 minutes. (It might be necessary to add more water if the soup gets too thick, though we preferred ours on the thick side.)
When the lentils are cooked, add the chard and cook until the leaves are tender, just a few minutes more. Discard the bay leaves.
In an InstantPot or electric multicooker: Proceed as written above, using the sauté function on high (I find this to be like medium-high on a stove) to cook the sausage and then vegetables. Once you’ve added the remaining ingredients, including dried lentils, lock the lid and set to high pressure for 15 minutes. Let it naturally release for at least 10 minutes (or longer, if you have time), to help keep the vegetables intact. You can manually release the rest. Use the sauté function on high again to bring it back to a simmer (this should be take no time at all) and add the greens; cook until wilted.
Both methods: To finish, divide soup among bowls, then add the remaining 1/4 cup olive oil and 2 garlic cloves to a small skillet (on the stove) and heat over medium until the garlic softens and hisses. Drizzle this over soup bowls, and top with fresh Romano, passing more at the table. Leftovers will keep for several days in the fridge.
PJH: I made this w boneless chicken breasts – just browned them first with no flour, used fresh mushrooms and kalamata olives. Was very good… maybe try boneless thighs next time.
2 whole chicken breasts
flour to dredge chicken
9 oz can of marinated artichoke hearts, liquid reserved
one can of sliced mushrooms, drained
14 oz can of chopped tomatoes and its liquid
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 t salt
¾ t oregano
1 t dried dried basil
¾ t black pepper
¾ cup straight Sherry
½ cup pitted black olives (optional)
Directions
Cut the chicken into 2-3 inch pieces and dredge in the flour. Saute in liquid reserved from artichoke hearts until lightly browned. Add the artichokes, mushrooms, tomatoes, garlic, and seasonings, simmer for about 10 minutes. Add the Sherry and simmer 5-10 minutes more. Add olives and simmer till heated through. Serve over any type of pasta or polenta.
1 1/2 lbs flank or round steak cut into thin strips
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 t. salt
dash pepper
1/4 t. ginger
1/4 t. sugar
1/4 c. soy sauce
2 green peppers cut into large chunks
1 lb. fresh bean sprouts
1 medium onion, sliced
4 medium sized tomatoes, quartered
2 T. cornstarch
1 c. beef broth
Heat oil in wok or large frying pan. Add meat, garlic, salt, pepper, ginger and sugar; stir-fry until beef is no longer pink. Move meat from center of skillet; add soy sauce, green pepper and onion. Cook, covered about 3 minutes. Move food from center of wok and add tomatoes and bean sprouts; cook 3 more minutes. Make a smooth mixture of cornstarch and broth; add to hot mixture. Stir gently until thickened. Service over hot white rice.
Our supply of tomatoes continues to occupy our kitchen window sill. A friend at work gave me this recipe after we discussing all the different things we do with tomatoes. It’s a nice easy way to use up the smaller ones that seem to be all that is left now…and is also very tasty.
our window sill tomatoes
lots of nice spices
the tomatoes as they started to cook. such a nice color.
about an hour and a half later
Tomato Jam
Meg Guncik – who got from New York Times
1 ½ lb good ripe tomatoes (Roma are best), cored and coarsely chopped.
1 cup sugar
2 Tbsp freshly squeezed lime juice
1 Tbsp fresh grated or minced ginger
1 tsp. ground cumin
¼ tsp. ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp. ground cloves
1 tsp. salt
1 jalapeno or other pepper(s), stemmed, seeded and minced (or red pepper flakes or cayenne to taste)
1. Combine all ingredients in a heavy saucepan. Bring to boil over medium heat, stirring often.
2. Reduce heat to simmer, stirring occasionally, until mixture has consistency of thick jam, @ 1 hour, 15 minutes.
3. Taste and adjust seasoning, then cool and refrigerate until ready to use. Will keep at least a week.
Meg’s notes:
My Roma tomatoes were so small, I didn’t bother to core them, but I did coarsely chop them.
I usually double this recipe and end up with 2-3 small/medium sized jars.
If you want, after cooking for the hour and 15 min, you can run the mixture through a strainer to get rid of any skins and/or cores. I did not do that – I used an immersion blender and made it smooth that way.
A few times, I needed to cook it longer to continue to reduce it to the right thickness.
I think it keeps longer than a week. It’s very good on melba toast or water crackers -it’s not necessarily a breakfast-type jam.
check out the fresh snap peas from our garden too. yummmm.
The ingredients in the refrigerator last night led me to this simple and very tasty pasta recipe. Roasted tomatoes are wonderful and the goat cheese made it nice and creamy. Grace announced that this is now her favorite pasta.
roasting makes the tomatoes nice and sweet and flavorful
Below is the recipe that I followed pretty much as is except I cooked the tomatoes at 300 degrees for about an hour and they were perfect. I also used a different kind of pasta and didn’t have too much basil yet so used a bit of parsley, basil and oregano from the garden.
Pasta with Slow Roasted Cherry Tomatoes and Goat Cheese
Sara Moulton, Sara Moulton Cooks at Home
Ingredients:
2 pounds red and yellow cherry tomatoes
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 pound penne
6 ounces fresh goat cheese
1 cup loosely packed fresh basil leaves, torn into pieces
Additional kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
Directions
Preheat the oven to 250 degrees F.
Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper. Halve each tomato and place cut side up in 1 flat layer on the baking sheets. Drizzle the tomatoes with 1 tablespoon of the olive oil and sprinkle on the salt. Roast until the tomatoes are dried around the edges but still moist, about 2 hours.
Crumble the goat cheese into large chunks and refrigerate until ready to serve the pasta.
Cook the pasta in salted boiling water according to the package directions. Remove 1 cup of the cooking liquid and reserve. Drain the pasta well and return to the pot. Add the tomatoes, goat cheese,basil, reserved cooking liquid, and remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil. Toss well and season with salt and pepper. Serve warm.
We have lots and lots of tomatoes this year. Not lots of big ones, but lots of italian and cherry ones. We made a big batch of bruschetta last weekend. It didn’t last very long.
Don’t confuse Jack as the one who made these beauties….just the one who ate most of them :).
½ lb. spinach, washed well and chopped (about 2 cups)
½ t. low salt alternative
16 oz. (2 cups) low-fat cottage cheese
4 oz. part-skim mozzarella, shredded (about 1 cup)
3 T. grated Parmesan
¼ cup chopped fresh parsley or 1 T. dried
2 eggs
¼ t. freshly ground black pepper
¼ t. salt, if desired
3 cups tomato sauce (homemade or canned)
8 oz. lasagna noodles, cooked al dente
In a large skillet, sauté the onion, garlic, and mushrooms in sherry and butter until the vegetables are soft.
Add the chopped broccoli, spinach, and salt. Stir to combine the ingredients, reduce the heat, cover the skillet, and simmer the mixture for about 5 minutes or until the broccoli is tender-crisp.
In a medium bowl, combine the cottage cheese, mozzarella, Parmesan, parsley, eggs, pepper, and salt.
In a baking pan approximately 13 x 9 x 2 inches, spread ½ cup of tomato sauce on bottom. Layer the lasagna ingredients as follows: Arrange three strips of lasagna noodles on the bottom. Spread half of the cheese mixture on noodles, then half of the vegetable mixture, and 1 cup of the tomato sauce. Repeat, starting from the noodles. End with a layer of noodles topped with the remaining ½ cup of tomato sauce. Sprinkle the top of the lasagna with additional Parmesan, if desired.
Bake the lasagna at 375 for 25 minutes. Let it stand for about 10 minutes before serving it.
Eat On Edgecliff 