Recipe

Orzo with Lentils soup

Recipe
No Questions Yet

Photo by puglia4foodies

Chef
puglia4foodies's Notes: This is a very simple and healthy Mediterranean recipe from Puglia and Southern Italy. The local cuisine is based on lots of legumes (which in the past were called the "meat" of the paesants...
This is a very simple and healthy Mediterranean recipe from Puglia and Southern Italy. The local cuisine is based on lots of legumes (which in the past were called the "meat" of the paesants). In Italy we traditionally eat lentils at midnight on New Year's Eve. Because lentils resembled coins, in the past they were thought to bring financial prosperity in the year to come. Nowadays, we associate them to general good luck, in any field!

Expand Collapse

Serves 6

1 pound lentils Ask a question about this ingredient

1 pound orzo Ask a question about this ingredient

2 carrots Ask a question about this ingredient

bunches parsley Ask a question about this ingredient

2 tablespoons intense extra virgin olive oil Ask a question about this ingredient

1 teaspoon sea salt Ask a question about this ingredient

1/2 chilly pepper Ask a question about this ingredient

Soak the lentils overnight and then rinse them.
Ask a question about this step
Put the lentils in a pan with orzo and cover with water. Add the sliced carrots and cook at low flame for 1 and half hour, while stirring and adding water if necessary.
Ask a question about this step
Add sea salt and chilly pepper. When ready switch them off and add parsley. Let them cool down so that the orzo absorbs all the sauce.
Ask a question about this step
Add the extra virgin olive oil, which is the key ingredients for the success of this recipe. It must be intense fruity and bitter.
Ask a question about this step

2 Comments on Orzo with Lentils soup

GoodFoodie added over 2 years ago

I can't imagine cooking orzo for 1 and half hours. Is that supposed to say a 1/2 hour?

puglia4foodies added over 2 years ago

No it is 1 and 1/2 hour. I don't soak Orzo in water, I use it completely raw.
Orzo and lentils are cooked together, at VERY low flame. The slow cooking is the key in giving taste to dishes in Southern Italian cuisine.