strawberries in paris

Lentil Soup with Rosemary Foccacia Bread

These last couple weeks have been getting mighty cold. So whats the best remedy for a chilly and blustery Sunday?? – Hearty soup and fresh bread of course!

I went into the New Best Recipe for inspiration and came out with two recipes I am surely going to come back to alot! I had extra rosemary from recipes last week and lentils from a couple of months ago, so combine that with some bacon and other things, A La Warm Dinner!

I love foccacia bread- the stuff we got at Crush can get my mouth watering just thinking about it! And the fact that you use a riced potato in addition to flour is so interesting! The dough was pretty easy to make, (thanks Petunia!) and it took about 2 hours for the proofing and resting, not bad for a Sunday meal! The soup tasted much more delicious than we thought it was going to. It almost fooled my taste buds into thinking that the ground up lentil, etc was ground beef! Really healthy and not “health” food tasting at all.

Ingredients:

Bread
1 medium baking potato (9 oz), peeled and quartered
1.5 tsp instant yeast
3.5 cups flour
1 cup warm water
4 tbsp evoo + more
1.25 tsp salt
2 tbsp rosemary leaves, chopped coarsely
3/4 tsp coarse sea salt

Soup
3 slices bacon, cut into 0.25 inch pieces
1 large onion, chopped fine
2 medium carrots, peeled and chopped medium
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes
1 bay leaf
1 tsp minded fresh thyme leaves
1 cup green lentils
1 tsp salt
fresh black pepper
0.5 cup white wine
6 cups low sodium chicken stock
1.5 tsp balsamic vinegar
3 tbsp minced parsley leaves

Directions:

Bread
1) Boil potato in water for about 25 minutes. Drain and rice potato! Reserve 1.5 cups of riced potato.
2) With petunia, mix the yeast, .5 cup of flour and .5 cup water until combined. Cover tightly with plastic wrap for 20 minutes. Add the remaining dough ingredients (save 2 tbsp oil) with the paddle attachment and mix on low until combined. Switch to the dough hook and continue mixing for 5 minutes on medium until the dough is smooth and elastic.
3) Transfer the dough to a lightly oiled bowl and turn to cover with oil, then cover tightly with plastic wrap. Let rise in a warm, draft free area until the dough is puffy and doubled in volume, about 1 hr.
4) Press the dough into a generously oiled 15.5 by 10.5 inch rimmed baking sheet. If the dough resists going into the corners, cover it with a damp cloth and let it relax for 15 minutes before trying to stretch again. Then let it rest again with a plastic wrap covering for another hour!
5) Meanwhile, adjust the oven rack to the lowest-middle position and heat the oven to 425. With two wet fingers, dimple the risen dough at regular intervals (about 2 dozen) so that they are deep enough to collect oil and rosemary.
6) Lastly, drizzle the top with the remaining oil and more if you want and sprinkle evenly with rosemary and fleur de sel!
7) Bake until the bottom crust is golden brown and crisp, 23 to 25 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool slightly. I cut rectangular pieces and try not to eat it all in one sitting! (THAT GOOD!)

Soup
1) Fry the bacon in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, until the fat is rendered and bacon is crisp, about 3 to 4 minutes. Add the onion and carrots, cook, stirring occasionally, until they soften, (2 minutes). Add the garlic and cook for 30 seconds. Stir in the tomatoes, bay leaf, and thyme; cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Stir in the lentils, salt, pepper to taste, cover, reduce heat to medium-low and cook until the vegetables are softened and the lentils have darkened, 8 to 10 minutes.
2) Uncover, increase the heat to high, add the wine and bring to a simmer. Add the chicken stock; bring to a boil, cover partially, and reduce heat to low. Simmer until the lentils are tender but still hold their shape, 30 to 35 minutes; discard the bay lead.
3) Puree three cups of the soup in a blender until smooth, then return to the pot. Stir in the vinegar and heat the soup over medium-low heat until hot, about 5 minutes. Stir in the parsley and use extra for garnish!