Italian Lentil Soup (from Germany)

Our first post from outside the States! Nina from Germany made this Italian Lentil Soup!



What did you make?

It's called Minestra di lenticchie, lentil soup. You wash brown lentils (250 grams) in a sieve and put them into lots of water so they can soak over night (which makes preparation time a bit longer...). you cut an onion into rings, and a celery (from a bush/shrub) into half. Then you boil the lentils in the water that they soaked in, together with the onion and the celery-half and let it simmer for about 2 hours. Then you chop garlic, parsley and some speck (bacon) and also some onion and the other half of the celery into pieces. Peel and chop tomatoes (about 4). Fry the chopped up vegetables with olive oil, spices, salt, pepper, then put the tomatoes into that mix and let it stew. Put that mix into the water with lentils, maybe add some water and salt/pepper. When lentils are done, take the half of the celery out of the soup and put some small soup-pasta into it, if you want. Some pecorino cheese on top adds a nice flavour!

How did it taste? Would you make it again?

I love it, and give it a 8-9, depending on how well the flavour turned out (it always depends on the spices and changes from cooking to cooking). I can always eat this, it's a winter-comfort-soup, delicious and healthy!