KILU.
While some things change; others stay the same. And in our house - wherever that house may be - we strive to eat lentils for New Year's. In the Mediterranean, lentils are the must-eat food on the first day of the year, ensuring good luck for the days, weeks, and months to come.
Coming home to a near-empty pantry and fridge, I had designs on making a Neapolitan recipe of pasta with lentils... But when K made the call for "heavy" garlic, I decided to turn the dish into a hybrid between pasta with lentils and garlic soup.
In retrospect, I should have used green lentils... The red ones tend to break down into nothing (think Indian dal) so the result was more like a puree. But the flavors turned out just fine.
Garlicky Pasta Lentil Soup
-One cup red lentils, rinsed
-Five cups homemade chicken stock.
-1 tbsp EV olive oil
-1 carrot, minced
-1/2 medium onion, minced
-3 cloves garlic, crushed and finely minced
-3 cloves garlic, sliced
-1/2 tsp turmeric
-1 tsp dried oregano
-1/2 tsp crushed red pepper
-1 cup small tube shaped pasta (DeCecco's tubetti works well)
-Grated parmigiano reggiano cheese and chopped parsley
In a medium saucepan, saute onion and carrot over medium high heat in olive oil until nearly soft. Add minced and sliced garlic, oregano, red pepper, and turmeric and cook for 1-2 minutes more. Add lentils and cook 1 minute more. Add chicken stock to lentils and cook, 15-20 minutes, until lentils are soft. Add salt and pepper to taste. Meanwhile, prepare a pot of salted boiling water and cook pasta according to package instructions. Drain and rinse with cold water to stop cooking. To serve, place 2-3 tablespoons of pasta in a bowl and cover with several ladle fulls of the lentil soup. If the soup is too thick, add some reserved pasta water. Top each bowl with cheese and parsley, and drizzle with olive oil just before serving.
Cooking the pasta separately ensures that it stays al dente; if it cooks in the soup, it continues to absorb liquid and will get soggy.