Lentil Bean Soup (Lentejas Castellanas)

This is an old recipe from my mom and grandma on how to make lentil bean soup. It's a great mid day meal especially during the cold months of the year. It's full of iron and gives you great energy for the rest of your day.

Lentejas, as I will call them from now on in this posting are easy to make but take at least 45 minutes to 1 hour depending on the added ingredients you wish to include.

I always start with a deep pot. In this pot I lay down the Spanish basics: garlic, onions, olive oil, parsley, oregano, and salt. I let these items gather steam for about 8 minutes until I start seeing the onions caramelize a bit. Then I add about 1/2 a liter of water and bring it to a boil. Once the water is hot I add the lentil beans along with the cooked potatoes, carrots, and boiled tomatoes. I let it boiled for about 5 minutes. After the boiling process I bring the heat down to a minimum. Cover the pot and cook on minimum heat for about 45 minutes. Stir and most importantly, taste frequently. Add salt, ground black pepper or parsley as needed to extract the taste you desire.

One note: I boiled the potatoes, tomatoes and carrots separately so that they would be tender at the moment of slow cooking when combined with the lentil beans.

Enjoy!

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Ingredients:

400 grams of lentil beans

1 liter of water

5 tablespoons of olive oil

1 large potato

1 large onioin (minced)

4 cloves of garlic

2 carrots

2-3 tomatoes (depending on their size)

1 teaspoon of:

a. salt

b. black ground pepper

c. parsley

d. oregano

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