Ingredients
- 3 cups castelluccio lentils
- 6 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 1/2 medium red onion, chopped into 1/8-inch dice
- 3 cloves garlic, thinly sliced plus 2 whole cloves
- 4 cups chicken broth, hot
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 1/4 pound Tuscan or Umbrian country bread
- 1 cup pasta shells
- Chili Oil, recipe follows
Directions
Wash and drain the lentils, carefully picking through them to take out any pebbles.
In a 3-quart saucepan, heat the 6 tablespoons oil until just smoking. Add the onions and sliced garlic. Cook until softened but not brown, about 6 to 8 minutes. Add the lentils and the hot chicken stock. Bring the liquid to a boil. Lower then heat and simmer for 25 to 30 minutes, keeping the level of the liquid just over the lentils by periodically adding more water. Add the pasta shells during the last 6 minutes of cooking. Season, to taste, with salt and pepper.
In the meantime, preheat the grill or broiler. When the soup is ready to serve, grill or toast, slices of the bread until golden brown, about 2 minutes per side. Rub each slice with a cut garlic clove.
Ladle the soup into warm bowls. Place a slice of garlic bread on top of each soup serving. Drizzle the bread and the soup with the chili oil and serve immediately.
Chili Oil:
2 cloves garlic, sliced thin
2 tablespoons chili flakes
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon cracked black pepper
In a small hot saute pan, add extra-virgin olive oil and garlic. Saute until golden and add chili flakes and salt and pepper. Cook for 2 minutes. Remove from the heat and let infuse.
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By Jesusgirl1
Oceanside, CA
on January 25, 2012
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Delicious - with and without the chili oil! I didn't use nearly as much oil as it called for and I used vegetable broth instead of chicken, and I used red lentils because it's what I had on hand. But I found this to be absolutely delicious (although come to think of it, I probably used twice the amount of garlic called for and a lot more broth. Delicious, nutritious - awesome. Will be mnaking this again and again!
By gottaluvit!
Dallas, TX
on October 23, 2011
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Mario has some fabulous recipes, but I thought that this needed tweeking.
I agree w/ previous review that it lacked a depth of flavor - on it's own - but the chili oil
was genius! It was super-thick, and I continued to add stock/water to thin. The dish still
turned-out thick. It did seem unappealing, but the chili oil and bread brought it to life.
What a kick of much-needed flavor! Lentils are a super-food, so with that in mind, I would prepare again, but add much more chicken stock, and make twice as much chili oil.
By nolemomma
Richmond VA
on November 18, 2010
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This soup was so/so. It seemed to be missing some depth of flavor. I definitely had to add much more stock during the cooking process to make it soup, not just lentils in a bowl. Ended up adding quite a bit of salt and pepper at the end which helped bring out some of the flavors. The bread and oil (I just used a red chili oil I already had on hand are a definite must as that was the best thing about it. Oh, I also used the green French lentils b/c those were all I could find. The color of the soup was army green/grayish and looked very unappetizing to my two young kids. If I made it again I think I would add some sort of meat or other veggie to try and bolster the flavors.
Read all 14 reviews