With the biblical story of Jacob and Esau’s infamous business deal ” one pot of lentil soup extra hot for one birthright, thank you” included in the Torah reading, I’m not surprised that I craved lentil soup this week. Alas Jacob’s recipe has been lost to history -the Bible excludes information that is unessential for eternity so I created my own. Though perhaps not worth a birthright, it was nonetheless quite tasty .
My secret ingredient was one large and fat parsnip which I smuggled back from the US.For some unknown parsnips are scarce e in Jerusalem. Its a great piece of luck to find one or two small and scrawny specimens, so I import my own. Yes, you can pack vegetables in your suitcase, just not tomatoes. Nothing else has that has the same sweet, earthy taste but you can make do instead with one turnip plus one small sweet potato. Y
If you’re’ pressed for time, and who isn’t then chop the vegetables with the food processor, using the blade attachment to make the prep quick work but peel the veggies first-these are root vegetables and they are dirty.
The one thing you can’t rush is the cooking time (well, unless you have a pressure cooker but I don’t). Lentils need time to soften-my soup simmered for over two hours until the lentils had become soft but not mushy and the vegetables and tomato sauce blended into a mixture that could tempt even Esau.
Lazy Persons Lentil Soup serves six
One small Vidalia onion diced and sauteed in two tablespoons of olive oil until translucent.
After that add four carrots peeled and diced or processed into chunks, two medium sized zucchinis diced, one fat parsnip, peeled and diced and 3/4 cup of brown lentils.
Add one 15 oz can of tomato sauce
Add enough water to cover and cook on a low flame for two hours
Adjust seasonings adding salt and pepper as needed
Eat right away.
Yum