Cretan Farmer's Soup with Green Lentils

Summary

Ingredients

• 100 g lentils, reen, dried
• 600 g water
• 16 g beef broth, instant

For the vegetables:

• 4 medium tomato (s), fully ripe
• 1 medium onion (s), brown
• 4 medium garlic clove (s), fresh
• 1 medium potatoes, waxy
• 1 medium carrot (s)
• 1 hot pepper, long, red, medium hot
• 1 small zucchini, green
• 1 small spring onion (s)

Also:

• 4 medium bay leaves
• 1 small cinnamon stick (s), approx. 5 cm long
• 4 clove (s)
• 1 tablespoon rosemary, fresh or dried
• 1 teaspoon oregano, fresh or frozen
• 0.5 teaspoon ½ allspice powder
• 1 tablespoon gyros spice
• 6 tablespoon olive oil, extra virgin
• 30 g feta cheese
• 2 tablespoon red wine vinegar
• 3 tablespoon orange juice
• Salt and pepper to taste

To garnish:

• Feta cheese
• Almond (s), white, styled
• Celery green, fresh

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Instructions

1. Wash all fruits and vegetables. Remove the stems from the tomatoes, cut in half lengthways and cut out the green-white stalk. Halve each half lengthways, thirds crosswise and purée finely in the blender at the highest setting for 1 minute. Wash and drain the lentils. Halve the onion lengthways, cap at both ends, peel and cut into small pieces. Cap the garlic cloves at both ends, peel and roughly cut into pieces.
2. Heat a 3 liter casserole, add 4 tablespoons of the olive oil and let it get hot. Add the onions and garlic and roast until the onions turn light brown. Deglaze with the boiling water and add the tomato juice from the blender. Add the green lentils, instant beef broth, and any seasonings. Bring the contents to a simmer.
3. Peel the potatoes, cut into walnut-sized pieces and place in the casserole. Peel the carrot, quarter it lengthways, cut it crossways into pieces approx. 6 mm thick and place in the saucepan. Cut the peppers crosswise into approx. 5 mm wide rolls and add to the soup with the grains. Simmer with the lid on for about 20 minutes. Stir every now and then.
4. In the meantime, cap the zucchini at the lower end, cut in half crosswise, quarter the lower half lengthways and cut across into pieces approx. 8 mm wide. Wash the spring onion, cut the green and white stem into approx. 2 cm wide pieces, cut the green leaf parts into approx. 1 cm wide rings. Provide separately. Mix the feta cheese with the orange juice, the red wine vinegar and the rest of the olive oil until homogeneous.
5. Add the spring onion and zucchini pieces and let simmer for 8 minutes. Season the broth with salt and black pepper. Add the dissolved feta cheese, bring to the boil briefly, then add the green leaf parts of the spring onion. Divide the soup on the serving plates, garnish with the appropriate ingredients and serve with bread.
6. Annotation:
7. The Cretans enjoy the soup rather thickly. Additional water and instant beef stock may be required here for personal taste.