Monday, August 22, 2011

Eat Shoots and Leaves

You all will love this Eat Shoots and Leaves post from Gilt Taste. The Stories section of their site is unique and exciting, the Eat Shoots and Leaves posts in particular. The idea of these stories is to find ways to eat all of the produce you buy. They approach it from a global perspective--somewhere in the world someone's figured out how to eat that part of the vegetable. Now we can to!

Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Caramelized Onion, Potato, and Eggplant Rustici with a Pasta Frolla Dough

When we got our CSA box on Sunday and I started planning meals for the week I realized that I had WAY to many vegetables for the few days we were actually going to be home for dinner.  In an effort to use them up as tastily as possible I grouped them "logically" and took to the internet to find some new recipes for each combination.  Turns out if you google "ingredients eggplant potato onions" about halfway down the first page you find this tasty little recipe for Caramelized Onion, Potato, and Eggplant Rustici with a Pasta Frolla Dough.

Here's my advice to you... Stop whatever you're doing and go make this recipe. Now.  Do it.  Go on.  

First off, the Pasta Frolla dough is sort of like a pie crust.  So you can use it for savory or sweet rustic type things.  It's amazing.  Here's my slightly modified version...

Pasta Frolla

Ingredients

1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 freshly grated lemons, zest of or 1 oranges (optional)
1/2 cup cold unsalted butter, cut into bits
1 large eggs, beaten lightly
1 teaspoon vanilla

Directions

1.In a bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, salt, and zest.
2.Cut in the butter, until it resembles coarse meal.
3.Add the egg and the vanilla and toss the mixture until incorporated.
4.Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead very lightly, forming into a disk.
5.Chill, wrapped in plastic at least 1 hour or overnight.
6.Let the dough stand at room temperature until softened, but still firm enough to roll out.

As for the filling, if you click through the link at the top to the original recipe you'll find the filling.  I basically did the lazy version noted below. 

Savory Eggplant, Potato, and Onion Filling

Ingredients

2 medium eggplants (diced)
3 medium potatoes (diced)
1 sweet onion (sliced)
butter
olive oil
salt and pepper 

I basically just sliced and diced these up.  Sauteed the eggplants in one pan on the stovetop with olive oil, salt, and pepper. Cooked and crisped up the diced potatoes in another pan on the stovetop with a combo of olive oil, butter, salt, and pepper.  And caramelized the onions in the oven at 400 degrees.  

Once the separate parts of the filling were ready.  I took the dough out of the fridge and left it on the counter for five minutes.  Separated it into four balls, rolled them out to about 1/4 inch.  Put a spoonful of eggplant, followed by a spoonful of potatoes, topped with caramelized onions on each.  Scrunched up the sides into little rustici, and popped them in the oven at about 325 degrees for 30 minutes.  

Best. Dinner. Ever. 

Friday, June 3, 2011

Ginger Peanut Slaw

A fresh summer slaw adventure...

1 head Asian cabbage, chopped in slaw-style strips
2T veganaise
4T diced candied ginger
2T ginger marmalade
1/2 cup dry roasted peanuts

Tailor the amounts above to your taste, mix it all up in a bowl, and eat it on a sunny deck.

Thursday, May 5, 2011

Chocolate Sugar Cookies

The perfect, slightly sweet, chocolate cookie snack. Slightly modified from a recipe I found at Smitten Kitchen.  I think I'll use a few to make some mini ice cream sandwiches!  Or maybe dip one side in chocolate laced with mint!!!  Even better, maybe I could use that creme de menth filling from Mom's mint brownie recipe to make little chocolate mint sandwiches and THEN dip one side in dark chocolate. Mmmmmm.  Oh man, that sounds absolutely indulgent.  I wonder if Joel's office would be open to my experimenting?   
 
Anyhow, the original recipe called them Brownie Roll-Out Cookies, but they aren't really that brownie'esque if you ask me.  They're more like a chocolate sugar cookie, although they're not very sweet. 
 
I love that the recipe can be halved very easily, as I did.  I would guess a half batch made maybe 30 small (2 inch?) rounds, of which the two of us ate about half in one sitting (as we watched the Caps collapse finally reach an end).  At least we had tasty chocolate bedtime cookies to console us.  Hmmm, maybe that's what I should call them "Chocolate Bedtime Cookies," I like it!  (Hang on while I amend my subject line, there, done.  And Chocolate Bedtime Cookies are born...)
 
Ingrediants:
3 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup butter, softened
1 to 1.5 cups brown sugar (depending on how sweet you want it)
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa (even better, use unsweetened dark cocoa powder, Mmmm)
Preheat oven at 350 degrees.
 
Combine flour, salt and baking powder in bowl and set aside.
 
Mix butter, sugar, eggs, vanilla and cocoa until smooth. Gradually add flour mixture and mix until smooth. Wrap in plastic and chill for at least one hour.

Roll out cookie dough on floured counter. Cut into desired shapes, brushing extra deposits of flour off the top. (It does disappear once baked, though, so don't overly fret if they go into the oven looking white.) Bake on a parchment-lined baking sheet for 8 to 11 minutes (the former for 1/8-inch thick cookies, the latter for 1/4-inch cookies) until the edges are firm and the centers are slightly soft and puffed.
Transfer to a wire rack to cool.
* According to my mother's recipe, they're called chocolate sugar cookies but I do not feel that it does them justice.

Friday, April 29, 2011

Peach & almond oatmeal crumble

I made the easiest, tastiest desert last night. It golden brown was a peach and almond crumble using oatmeal instead of flour.

I used an 8x8 pan, which the original recipe had said to grease but I forgot and it still came out fine. Preheat the oven to 350.

Ingredients:
-- Approximately 3-4 cups of sliced peaches, with or without skin or even canned, however you prefer, essentially enough to cover the bottom of the pan and layer maybe an inch deep (you could really use just about any fruit I suppose)
-- if you used fresh peaches squeeze 1/2 a lemon over them
-- 2-4 Tbsp agave syrup, or sugar (optional, depends on how sweet your peaches are)
-- 1 T flour (or other starch to thicken, like tapioca star
Ch)
-- 1 tsp cinnamon
-- 1/4 tsp cardamom (optional)
-- 2 T finely chopped crystallized ginger (*optional)

Combine peaches, flour, cinnamon, and whatever optional ingredients you want in a bowl. Spread in bottom of 8x8 pan.

To make the crumble topping, combine the following in another bowl.

1.5 cups oats (I used quick oats)
3/4 - 1 c slivered almonds
1/3 c melted butter (or coconut oil)
1/4 - 1/3 c brown or blond sugar (or agave syrup, maple syrup, or light honey)
1/2 tsp salt

Plop the oatmeal crumble topping on top of the fruit somewhat evenly.

Preheat oven to 350 (325 if using all agave or honey in the crumble topping. Bake for about 40 minutes - or until the top browns a bit and fruit bubbles out of the corners of the pan.

Enjoy as is, or with fresh whipped cream, vanilla ice-cream, or yogurt.

Leftovers can be stored covered in the fridge, and re-heated - or eaten right out of the pan.

Tuesday, April 5, 2011

Brown sugar whole wheat shortbread, Mmmm

You can't tell from this photo, but these were surprisingly tasty
little morsels. This was the first time I ever tried my hand at
shortbread and I have to say I was pleasantly surprised. Then again,
with all that butter and brown sugar how could it be bad?

Anyhow, Joel was supposed to bring in treats for his weekly staff
meeting today and I was out of eggs, flour, and sugar. A quick online
search for the ingrediants I did have on hand (namely brown sugar and
whole wheat pastry flour) turned up a few recipes for shortbread, so I
gave it a whirl...

Brown Sugar Whole Wheat Shortbread

1 cup light brown sugar (the recipe called for dark brown)
1 cup regular salted butter, softened (I think next time I would use 3/4 cup)
1 tsp vanilla
2 1/4 cups whole wheat pastry flour

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

1) Cream brown sugar, butter, and vanilla together until light and fluffy

2) Add in flour in two parts. Mix on low until very well combined.
(It's not like regular cookies where you barely mix the dough, you
really want to make sure the butter is worked into the flour, or,
supposedly, your bars will be super-crumbly.)

3) Scrape the mixture into a buttered cookie sheet (mixture will be
crumbly, but not dry.) Press evenly into pan. Lightly score bars where
you would like to cut them, and then prick all over with a fork.

4) Bake for about 25 (to 30 minutes?), until top is puffy and firm.
Cool pan on a rack for several hours (or overnight), then cut.

Saturday, April 2, 2011

Breakfast cookies... for dinner!

In an effort to avoid sitting around stressing about my defense, I
whipped up some banana bread walnut chocolate chip cookies from a new
breakfast blog I found. I modified the original recipe, using only
brown sugar (rather than half white). They were kind of part oatmeal
cookie, part banana bread, part chocolate chip cookie, all
deliciousness.

http://xobreakfast.com/post/3226640679/banana-bread-walnut-chocolate-chip#

Banana Bread Walnut Chocolate Chip Cookies
(adapted from Martha Stewart via XO Breakfast)
Makes 2 or 3 dozen?

1 c. all-purpose or spelt flour
1/2 c. whole wheat flour
1 c. rolled oats
1 tsp. coarse salt
1/2 tsp. baking soda
3/4 c. (1.5 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temp.
1/2 c. brown sugar
1 egg
1.5 tsp. vanilla
1-2 ripe bananas
8 oz. (1 c.) chocolate chunks or chips
1/2 c. ground walnuts

Preheat oven to 375ºF and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Mix the flours, oats, salt, and baking soda in a small bowl. In a
larger bowl, cream the butter and sugars together until light and
fluffy. Stir in the egg and vanilla, then mash in the banana.

Add the flour in three parts, folding the chocolate and walnuts in
with the last third. Scoop cookies onto the parchment paper (I used a
1/4 c. measure for big puffy cookies). Bake until light golden brown,
about 12-13 minutes. Cool on rack.

Joel thought they were a little soft at 12 minutes, so I think next
time I would do 13.

Anyone else want peppers & eggs

Mmmm, peppers and eggs. It just brings me back to childhood. Only I always seem to have to do my peppers separate from my eggs, otherwise they get all funny. How did they always seem to get it just right growing up?

Thursday, March 24, 2011

Salted oatmeal cookies with dried cranberry and dark chocolate chip

I got this recipe from a friend. They're cooling in the fridge before they go in the oven now. The dough is delish. I can only assume that the cookies will be amazing as well.

Ingrediants
3/4 cup unsalted butter
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 3/4 all purpose flour
2 cups rolled organic oats

1 cup chocolate chips (I used ghirardelli's 60% cacao bittersweet chips)
1/2 cup dried cranberries

Start off with cold butter sliced into small pieces and whipped in your mixer for a minute or so. Because it's cold it will stick a bit, but don't fret -- scrape and mix. Next, add both sugars the baking powder, baking soda, and cinnamon. Combine at a medium speed till the mixture has a crumbly texture. Add the eggs and vanilla and mix again until combined.

With the mixer on a low speed, slowly add the flour. If the motor sounds like it's working real hard as you add the last of the flour, pick up a spoon and go at it by hand. Don't overmix at this point or your cookies will get tough.

Gently fold in the oats and as many cranberries and raisins as you desire. Chill the dough for an hour before dropping by the heaping tablespoon onto a non-stick cookie sheet; lightly sprinkle with kosher salt. Bake on the second rack from the top at 375 for 12-15 minutes or until the edges are golden brown. Sprinkle on some more kosher salt crystals as some bake into the cookie while in the oven. The cookie should still be soft to the touch so carefully transfer them to a cooling rack. While cooling you'll have just enough time to brew up a nice cup of tea before the urge to consume overtakes you.

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Black bean-Banana Empanadas


I found this recipe in Bon Appetit magazine, and it is sooooo yummy! We haven't made it in a while, and this time Brad convinced me to make my own dough, so I'll include that too. Here's the original recipe:

Ingredients
1 15oz can black beans, drained
3/4 c chopped onion
1/4 c chopped cilantro
1 firm medium-sized, diced
3/4 tsp cumin
1/3 tsp cayenne pepper
2 Tbsp vegetable oil
salt to taste
1 17oz pkg puff pastry (2 sheets), thawed
1 c coarsely grated Monterey Jack cheese
1 egg, beaten (for glaze)

Preheat oven to 425
Makes 12

1. Heat oil in a pan and add bananas. Saute 1 1/2 minutes, just until browning. Using slotted spoon transfer the bananas onto paper towel to drain.
2. Add onion to pan and saute just until translucent, about 3 minutes.
3. Add beans, cilantro, cayenne & cumin. Mix together, cooking until beans are hot. Remove from heat and mash bean mixture to coarse paste. Set aside to cool.
4. On floured surface, roll out puff pastry and cut into squares. Place heaping spoonful of filling, sprinkle with cheese, and top with banana, dividing evenly. Brush edges of pastry with glaze, fold into triangle,a and seal crust edges using a fork.
5. Place on ungreased baking sheet, and brush with glaze. Bake until golden brown, about 15 minutes.

If you're in the mood for a more corn-flavored empanada, use the dough recipe below. This dough is definitely more doughy, unlike the flaky lightness of the puff pastry. Both are delicious.

1 1/2 c flour
1/2 c fine-grained yellow cornmeal/corn flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 c vegetable shortening
1/2 c cold water
milk for glaze

1. Throw dry ingredients in food processor and blend for 5 seconds.
2. While still running, add shortening and blend another 10 seconds.
3. While still running, add water, slowly. Do not add too much - dough should be somewhat dry.
4. Remove from processor and hand-knead slightly, just until blended smoothly. Divide dough into 12 balls, set aside on a plate, and cover with plastic wrap. Let stand for at least 20 minutes (this makes them easier to roll out).
5. Roll out each ball on a well-floured surface and add filling. Brush edges with water and seal with fork. Place on ungreased baking sheet and brush with a little milk.
6. Bake at 450 for 20 minutes until golden brown. (I used the baking directions from the other recipe and they came out perfect).

Serve with sour cream, guacamole, etc. Enjoy!

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Amazing quinoa deliciousness

Last night we tried a new recipe for a veggie quinoa with pan seared
tofu. The recipe came from 101 Cookbooks, my favorite cooking blog
(http://www.101cookbooks.com/archives/heathers-quinoa-recipe.html).
If you're not into quinoa, you could do it with a nice brown rice or
some other grain.

This was actually my first time making tofu at home. I have to say,
thanks to Brad's advise (to "Press it first (wrap it in a cloth napkin
or lint free towel, put it on a cookie sheet to catch the water, and
put some heavy shit on top of it--we use our cast iron griddle)" it
came out awesome. I also pan seared it until it was browned on both
sides and then added all the other ingrediants to that, rather than
the other way around. And I forgot to buy corn, so I left that out.

If there is one thing you do, make the oven roasted cherry tomatoes**
and put them on literally everything you eat. They were a.mazing.

Here's the original recipe....

Heather's Quinoa RecipeIf you don't have the time or inclination to
roast cherry tomatoes, substitute some chopped, moist, sun-dried
tomatoes. Also, a delicious alternative to the tofu in this recipe
might be paneer cheese which can stand up to the heat without losing
its form. Vegans can leave out the Parmesan in the pesto and make it
more of a basil-nut drizzle - still tasty, and a good fit for this
recipe.

a splash of extra-virgin olive oil
a pinch of fine grain sea salt
1 shallot, minced
3 cups cooked quinoa* (or brown rice, or other grain)
1 cup corn, fresh or frozen
1 1/2 cups kale, spinach or other hearty green, finely chopped
2 cups extra-firm nigari tofu, browned in a skillet a bit
1/3 cup pesto
1/3 cup pumpkin seeds, toasted
1/4 cup roasted cherry tomatoes** (or chopped sun-dried tomatoes)

In a big skillet or pot heat the olive oil and salt over medium-high
heat. Stir in the shallot and cook for a minute or two. Stir in the
quinoa and corn and cook until hot and sizzling. Stir in the kale and
then the tofu, cooking until tofu is heated through. Remove the
skillet from heat and stir in the pesto and pumpkin seeds. Mix well so
the pesto is spread throughout. Turn everything out onto a platter and
top with the cherry tomatoes.
Serves 4 - 6.

*Rinse about 2 cups quinoa in a fine-meshed strainer. In a medium
saucepan heat the quinoa and 4 cups water until boiling. Reduce heat
and simmer until water is absorbed and quinoa fluffs up, about 15
minutes. Quinoa is done when you can see the curlique in each grain,
and it is tender with a bit of pop to each bite. Drain any extra water
and set aside.

** To roast cherry tomatoes: Heat oven to 350F degrees. Cut each
tomato in half and arrange in a large oven-proof baking dish. Mix
together a big splash of olive oil, a spoonful of brown sugar, and a
few pinches of salt - pour this over the tomatoes. Gently toss them a
bit, making sure they all get coated, finishing with each tomato
facing cut-side up. Place in the oven and bake for 45 mintutes or so,
until the tomatoes are shrunken and sweet.

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Rustic Bread Eggplant Lasagna

Instead of working, I've decided to post all these recipes I've been meaning to share. Here's one of my real favorites:

Rustic Bread Eggplant Lasagna

3 Tbs Olive Oil
2 Jars Tomato Sauce
Olive Oil, for drizzling
2-3 Medium Eggplants, peeled
8-10 Large Slices of Sourdough Bread
1 Cup Breadcrumbs (or 2 more pieces of bread for toasting and food processing)
8 oz Fresh Mozzarella, thinly sliced
1-2 Large, Ripe Tomatoes, fresh, for garnish
Basil, for garnish

Preheat oven to 400º F.

1. Prep two baking sheets with parchment paper. Peel the eggplants by slicing off the top and bottom and using the cut edge to start your vegetable peeler. Holding the eggplant vertically, cut the eggplants into 1/2 inch slices. Arrange in one layer on a baking sheet. Sprinkle with salt and drizzle liberally with olive oil.

Bake eggplant for 30-40 minutes at 400º, turning once, until very, very soft and browned in some places.

2. Spray both sides of each slice of bread with spray oil and “grill” in a hot skillet until browned on both sides. You can also just toast, but grilling adds great flavor.

3. In a large baking dish, spread 1 1/2 cups of tomato sauce. Line the bottom of the dish with bread, filling as many as the gaps as possible without overlapping.

4. Place half of the eggplant on top of the bread, followed by another 1 to 1 1/2 cups tomato sauce. Add a second layer of bread. Add the second half of the eggplant, and all of the remaining sauce. Make sure that the bread is completely covered by sauce. Sprinkle breadcrumbs over the top (I'm too lazy to make breadcrumbs so I leave them out).

5. Place fresh tomato slices on the top of the lasagna, sprinkled with salt and pepper. Top the dish with the slices of mozzarella. Bake for 40 minutes at 400º F. Remove from oven and let rest 10 minutes before cutting. Top with basil leaves and drizzle sweet and thick balsamic vinegar (or balsamic syrup) on the plate if desired. Enjoy!

Baked Brie

I made this as an appetizer on the Superbowl and forgot to take a picture! I'll add one next time we make it. I used vegan Brie from our favorite vegan restaurant, Fairgrounds, but real Brie would be just as delicious.

1 pkg puff pastry shells*
1 container vegan Brie (approx. 8oz)
your favorite jam (I used raspberry)
maple syrup
brown sugar
fresh baked french bread (or your favorite)

1. Bake pastry shells for 1/2 the instructed time.
2. Remove shells from oven, pop open "tops" (be careful, they're hot!), spoon in Brie & then jam, filling to the top.
3. Replace "tops" - you can press down lightly, but if they aren't totally closed it's OK.
4. Generously drizzle maple syrup over shells, sprinkle with brown sugar, and return to oven to finish baking.
5. Allow to cool a few minutes before serving.
6. Serve with yummy bread.

*Most recipes I found called for using pastry sheets rather than shells, and then you would just wrap the entire Brie wheel in the dough, for 1 large baked Brie. I actually really liked the smaller, slightly-larger-than-bitesized-baked-Brie, because they were easy to serve and fun to eat!

Brad and I are hoping to make our own puff pastry dough next time - we'll keep you posted :) --no pun intended!

Best Fettuccine Alfredo EVER

I found this online at Allrecipes.com and it turned out to be a goldmine...absolutely delicious!! Now that I know I can make such a phenomenal alfredo sauce, I probably won't ever order it out again :)

1/4 c butter
1 c heavy cream
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 1/2 c parmesan, grated
1/4 c parsley
salt & pepper to taste (I probably added 1-2 tsp of salt)

1. Melt butter in a medium saucepan over medium low heat.
2. Add cream and simmer for 5 minutes, then add garlic and cheese and whisk quickly, heating through. Stir in parsley and serve.

Monday, February 28, 2011

Thai coconut sweet potato soup

This week I'm going to try Thai coconut sweet potato soup! I'll let
you know how it goes...


Ingredients

5 spray(s) Cooking Spray, Calorie Controlled
2 medium Onion, All Types, finely chopped
2 clove(s) Garlic, crushed
2 teaspoons (level) Cumin seeds, ground
1 individual Chilli, Green or Red, or red, deseeded, finely chopped
950 g Sweet Potato, peeled, roughly chopped
1 cube(s) Stock Cube, Vegetable, dissolved in 1.25 litre boiling water
120 ml Blue Dragon Coconut Milk, Reduced Fat
1 pinch Salt, and freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoons Coriander, Fresh, chopped

Instructions
Spray a medium saucepan with cooking spray. Place over medium heat.
Add onion and cook, stirring for 2 minutes or until softened. Stir in
garlic, cumin and chilli. Cook for a further 2 minutes. Add sweet
potato and cook for 2 minutes.


Add stock and bring to the boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer covered
for 30 minutes, or until sweet potato is tender. Cool slightly.


Blend or process mixture in batches until smooth. Return to heat and
stir in coconut milk. Stir until heated through. Season to taste with
salt and pepper. Serve garnished with coriander.

Monday, February 21, 2011

Soup photo

I made the red lentil soup the other night and tossed some arucola on top. It was insane. You guys really have to try making it.

PS. I doubled the red pepper. It had some kick!

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Potato Leek Soup

Last week we got a ginourmous leek in our CSA box, so I decided to try
out a soup recipe that a colleague had shared with me. It was
excellent and super easy. Here is the recipe I loosely followed.

Ingredients:
1 cup butter (I used 1/2 cup)
2 leeks, sliced (I used 1)
salt and pepper to taste
1 quart chicken broth
1 tablespoon cornstarch (I skipped this)
4 cups Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and
diced
2 cups heavy cream (I used 2% milk)

Directions:
1. In a large pot over medium heat, melt butter. Cook leeks in butter
with salt and pepper until tender, stirring frequently, about 15
minutes.
2. Stir cornstarch into broth and pour broth into pot. Add the
potatoes and bring to a boil. Season with salt and pepper. Pour in the
cream, reduce heat and simmer at least 30 minutes, until potatoes are
tender. Season with salt and pepper before serving.

This weeks soup

For some reason, I've really gotten into making soups lately. Last
week I did a fun potato leek soup that was amazing (I'll post that
too). Here's the one I'm going to try this week...

Red Lentil Soup Recipe

Be sure to pick through your lentils carefully. I somehow always find
pebbles or clots of dirt hiding in their midst. Better to catch them
on the front end, before you chip a tooth. And to make this soup
vegan, just skip the feta at the end i bet some chopped avocado would
be a good alternative.

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 onion, chopped
3 shallots, chopped
1/2 teaspoon red-pepper flakes

6 cups good-tasting vegetable stock (or water)
1 1/3 cup red lentils, picked over and rinsed
1/2 cup brown rice, picked over and rinsed
as much fine grain sea salt as you need

slivered almonds, toasted
black oil cured olives, chopped
feta, crumbled

In a big soup pot, over medium heat, combine the olive oil, onion,
shallots, and red pepper flakes. Let them brown, and caramelize a bit,
stirring occasionally.

Stir in the broth, bring to a boil, then stir in the lentils and rice.
Simmer for about 30 minutes or until the rice is very tender, and not
at all toothsome. By this time, the lentils will have collapsed into a
thick slop of sorts. If you need to add more water/broth at any point
do so a splash at a time, until the soup thins out to the point you
prefer.

Unless you used a salty broth, you will likely need to salt
generously, until the the soup no longer tastes flat. Serve each bowl
topped with almonds, olives, feta, and a slight drizzle of olive oil
if you like.

Serves 4 - 6.