ShareThisCaroline Cerilli Goodrich, 50, of Tampa, Fla., offers a recipe for Venetian Lentil Soup.
The health-care consultant's mother, Mary Cerilli, "got this recipe from her mother-in-law when she was married more than 60 years ago," Goodrich says. The mother-in-law was from Northern Italy. The original recipe involved sausage and a heavy tomato base. Goodrich has lightened it with diced ham, and says "everyone prefers the lighter style."
Tips: "Watch out for the saltiness of the ham and don't oversalt the soup. Also, I'm not much of a mincer or precision cutter; I'm a rustic cook, and all the vegetables can be roughly chopped. The amounts are approximate. It's a very friendly recipe and you can't go wrong if you add more or less of this or that."
Goodrich suggests serving this soup with a glass of bold red wine and warm Italian or French bread. Slice the bread on the diagonal, rub with a garlic clove or spread with roasted garlic spread or pesto, drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with grated Romano cheese and broil until slightly browned.
Can't cook without: "Garlic and olive oil. I'm not a heavy-handed Italian cook, but those are two essential things in the pantry. Gadgets aren't what makes a good cook."
Advice from the cook: "I think everybody can cook. Get some recipes and try. I showed several friends how to cook really simple things and that got them started when they saw their success. I think people get daunted and intimidated by big cookbooks and they don't even try. There's no such thing as a bad cook."
VENETIAN LENTIL SOUP
1 (6-ounce) package baby spinach (remove stems if desired)
1/2 to 3/4 cup chopped celery
1/2 to 3/4 cup carrots, roughly diced
1 or 2 cloves garlic, coarsely chopped
1 small to medium onion, chopped
2 tablespoons fresh Italian (flat-leaf) parsley, chopped
1 cup cooked or smoked ham, diced
3 tablespoons tomato paste
Garlic salt to taste
Fresh ground pepper to taste
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon Bragg Liquid Aminos (see note)
2 to 4 cups chicken broth, homemade or store-bought
1 (16-ounce) package dried brown lentils (2 cups)
Grated Locatelli Romano cheese for garnish
Place spinach, celery, carrots, garlic, onion, parsley, ham, tomato paste and seasonings in a 3-quart saucepan or soup kettle. Add olive oil and cook for a few minutes to soften vegetables. Stir in Bragg Liquid Aminos.
Add 2 to 4 cups of chicken broth and enough water to total 5 cups of liquid to the pot. Add the lentils.
Bring to a boil; lower the heat and simmer for about 20 minutes uncovered. Watch and add more liquid if the lentils seem dry or the soup is too thick; you may need another 1 to 2 cups.
Partly cover the pot and simmer another 20 to 25 minutes.
This can be very thick, almost a stew, or, with the addition of more broth or water, a thinner soup. Serve in bowls topped with grated cheese.
Makes about 10 cups.
Variations: Use sliced sausage instead of diced ham. Goodrich uses mild Italian, but you can use whatever you like: hot Italian, turkey or chicken sausage. Brown the sausage before adding it to the soup. Or eliminate the carrots and spinach and substitute one 14.5-ounce can of whole peeled tomatoes, chopped, and half of a 6-ounce can of tomato paste.
Note: Bragg Liquid Aminos is an all-purpose vegetable protein seasoning made from soybeans. Available at many grocery stores in the natural-foods aisle.
(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service www.scrippsnews.com)
Must credit St. Petersburg Times
