Class #7: Building Flavor / Lentil Soup, Pasta Salad
“Build layers into your dish, like you’re making nachos. Hide things on the bottom. Sprinkle things on top.””
References
Class #4 - The Intuitive Pantry (talks about balancing the building blocks of flavor: fat, salt, acidity, sweetness, spice)
Recipes
Simple Lentil Soup
serves 4-6
olive oil
1 large yellow onion, finely diced
2 medium carrots, finely diced
2 stalks of celery, finely diced
sea salt
6 garlic cloves, minced
chile flakes
3/4 teaspoon smoked paprika
1½ cups black/Beluga or French/Puy lentils (or other lentils of choice)
freshly ground black pepper
2 bay leaves
7 cups purified water
a few handful of tender greens like chard, spinach (optional)
juice from 1 lemon
handful of parsley, chopped
coconut yogurt/sour cream, for serving (optional)
Heat a soup pot over medium heat, add enough oil to generously coat the bottom. Add the onion, carrot, celery, and a pinch of sea salt. Sauté for 10-15 minutes, or until the vegetables are soft and just beginning to develop their sugars/sticking to the bottom of the pot. Add the garlic, chile flakes, and smoked paprika and sauté for 1 more minute. Add the lentils, and a few grinds of black pepper, and mix to coat. Add the bay leaf.
Pour the water into the pot and add more salt to season the soup. Increase the heat to high and bring the mixture up to a boil, then reduce to a simmer. Cook, covered, for 15-30 minutes, until the lentils are tender. Start checking at 15 minutes. Wilt in the greens, if using, and stir in the lemon juice. Taste the soup for salt and pepper and adjust if needed. Serve the soup garnished with parsley, with dollops of coconut yogurt/sour cream, if using.
Spring Pasta Salad
serves 4-6
10 radishes, halved or quartered
2 spring onions, green tops trimmed, white part sliced
about 1/2 bunch (large handful) asparagus, tough ends trimmed or snapped, sliced into bite-sized pieces
sea salt
freshly ground black pepper
¼ cup olive oil, plus more for drizzling the vegetables
zest and juice from 1 large lemon
1½ tablespoons Dijon mustard
10 oz/285 g pasta of choice
1 15 oz/425 g can chickpeas (or 1-1 1/2 cup cooked chickpeas)
heaping ½ cup pitted Castelvetrano olives or other olives of choice, torn or sliced
handful of sliced green onion
Preheat the oven to 400° F (200° C).
Put the radishes and spring onions on a large, parchment-covered baking sheet. Sprinkle the vegetables with salt and pepper, and drizzle with olive oil, mixing well to coat. Roast for 15 minutes. Add the asparagus to the baking sheet. Drizzle with a little more oil and sprinkle with more salt to season the asparagus, mix and roast for another 15-20 minutes, until all of the vegetables are cooked through.
Meanwhile, prepare a large bowl for serving the pasta salad. In the bottom of the bowl, combine the lemon zest, lemon juice, and mustard, whisking to combine. Stream in ¼ cup of olive oil while whisking, until emulsified. Add salt and pepper to taste, mix to combine.
Boil a pot of well-salted water for the pasta. Cook the pasta according to the timing on the package. Drain and add the pasta to the bowl with the dressing, followed by the roasted vegetables, chickpeas, olives, and green onion. Mix well to coat everything in the dressing. Let the salad cool at room temperature for a few minutes, then cover and transfer to the refrigerator. Chill the salad for at least 2 hours or preferably overnight. It will get even better with time. Enjoy the pasta salad cold.
Intuitive Cooking Takeaways
The lentil soup recipe can be treated as a base and added to endlessly. For the flavor base, any of the following aromatics can be added or substituted in: shallots, leeks, spring onions (in place or regular onion), fennel, parsnip, celery root, green bell pepper, ginger, fresh herbs. Besides the flavor base vegetables, it’s nice to add other vegetables in bigger chunks when adding in the lentils: potatoes, sweet potatoes, tomatoes, winter squash, zucchini, etc. The spices can be varied as well, think curry, cumin, coriander, fennel seeds, etc.
The pasta salad can be adapted to any season. Just roast whatever seasonal vegetables are around: tomatoes, peppers, and zucchini in the summer, winter squash and red onion in the fall, carrots, parsnips, or sweet potatoes in the winter, and add them in. Try varying the herbs according to the season as well. Adding crunch can be fun here too, think toasted nuts or seeds.