Hearty Lentil and Rice Soup

The perfect cold weather rehab soup. You know what I am talking about... You ate way too much on Thanksgiving and you need to reset and get back to eating in moderation again. This soup is perfect for that. I watch way too much PBS and there is an Italian show on there with this cute lady named Lidia. This is a variation on her recipe. Due to living in the Midwest I had to make some food substitutions because where I live is lame and does not have amazing things like panchetta to buy in large quantities. Lucky for me smoke applewood bacon worked just as well. This was a great soup and it made enough for lunches all week. Enjoy and I hope you get back on track like me ASAP with eating healthy again.

What you need~
half pound smoke bacon
6 cloves of garlic
1 large carrot
2 stalks of celery
1 small yellow onion
28 ounces of crushed tomatoes
2 cups fresh Italian parsley
2 bay leaves
4 quarts of cold water
1 lb of green lentils
1 cup rise (I used jasmine)
Freshly grated Parmesan cheese
Olive oil (to drizzle)
Seasoning (1 tablespoon of salt, herbs de provence and natures seasoning-- to taste)

Bacon and garlic ready to blend.

The meat and garlic should be paste like once blended.

Start by putting the garlic cloves and bacon in the food processor and blend until smooth. It will look like a paste almost. Put into a stock pot that is on medium heat and cook down for about 5 minutes. To prevent burning I did add about a tablespoon of water to deglaze the pan at one point. While this is cooking down clean out the food processor and blend the carrot, celery, onion and parlsey until small pieces. Add this to the meat in the stock pot and simmer down for about 5 minutes. At this point add the can of tomatoes and fill the can with water to add to the pot as well. Stir well and season with everything but the salt. Add the water and 2 bay leaves. Cook down for about an hour. Add the lentil and cook for another half hour. Add your rice after the lentils have cooked for about 20 minutes. Add your salt now.  Let this shimmer down till rice is done. Put in bowl and top with a drizzle of olive oil and Parmesan cheese.

All the veggies blended.

Right before adding water.



Ready to simmer.

I learned a bit from making this such as making sure the lentils were cooking for longer before adding the rice. It made enough for lunches all week which made me really happy. I will be making this again.

Lunches all week!

Until next time~
XoXo Emily