Lentil Soup

Years ago when I started living alone I could cook most basic foods but I never knew how to prepare soup. Everyone said it was very easy but it took me sometime to try one out. Once I did I discovered how easy it is to make delicious soup!

Below is a recipe of a creamy lentil soup.

Serves 6

Ingredients

• 1 onion, chopped
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 2 carrots, diced
• 2 stalks celery, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 teaspoon dried basil
• 1 (14.5 ounce) can crushed tomatoes
• 2 cups dry lentils
• 8 cups water
• 1/2 cup spinach, rinsed and thinly sliced
• 2 tablespoons vinegar
• salt to taste
• ground black pepper to taste

Method

1. In a large soup pot, heat oil over medium heat.
   
2. Add onions, carrots, and celery; cook and stir until onion is tender.
3. Stir in garlic, bay leaf, oregano, and basil; cook for 2 minutes.
4. Stir in lentils, and add water and tomatoes. Bring to a boil.
   
5. Reduce heat, and simmer for at least 1 hour.
   
6. When ready to serve puree the soup. This step can be skipped if you don't want a smooth soup
   
7. Stir in spinach and cook until it wilts.
8. Stir in vinegar, and season to taste with salt and pepper, and more vinegar if desired.

Enjoy!

The original recipe taken from All Recipes site.

Traditional Maltese Kusksu

Summer is over and once we start getting the cold wet grey weather I add some recipes to my weekly food. Warm soups start to appear more often on my table. Below is the recipe of a traditional Maltese style kusksu soup which is a creamy vegetable soup with broad beans, peas and a special type of pasta called kusksu.

This recipe serves 4.

Ingredients

• 1 onion
• 2 garlic cloves
• 1 carrot
• 1 potato
• 1 courgette (half if you have the long courgettes as opposed to the round ones)
• 8 tomatoes or a can of tomatoes
• 2 cans of water (you can use the can of tomatoes as a measure)

• Broad beans (ful)
• Peas
• Pepper
• Ricotta or Maltese goat cheeselets (gbejniet)
• 1-2 tablesppons kusksu pasta (I use Barilla Tempesta). If you cannot find this pasta use any other sort of soup pasta, for example the small snail shaped pasta.

Steps

• Sautee the onion, garlic, carrot, potato and courgette in some olive oil
• In a pan add the above ingredients together with tomatoes and water
• Leave cooking for 30 minutes
• Squash the mixture with a food processor
• Add the pepper, broad beans and peas and leave for another 30 minutes
• Add the pasta to the pan around 10 minutes (or as indicated on the package) before serving. 
• Serve with ricotta or Maltese goat cheese-lets

Notes
If you cooked a large amount of kusku and you're not planning to eat all of it in one go, it's best to add the pasta only to the portions you will be serving.You can then add pasta when reheating the extra kusku portions.

Recipe Origin

This recipe is one of the hundreds of recipes mama Formosa.