LENTIL, PORCINI AND SPINACH SOUP
12/12/14 14:36
LENTIL, PORCINI AND SPINACH SOUP
My Dad is coming over for Christmas and he promised to bring more of his foraged, hand cut and dried over wood stove wild mushrooms. That’s why I have been clearing “the last year’s stock” by sticking the woodland treasures into everything. They add so much flavour and meaty chewy texture. I love them.
Due to the never ending supply courtesy of my Dad I use them very liberally, by large handfuls. The cupboard where I store the bags of mushrooms is drowned in the their characteristic scent (there is a reason why you can’t find dried mushroom scented candles in shops). Dried porcini tend to be rather pricy in the UK, but luckily you don’t need a lot, half an ounce will give plenty of flavour to your dishes.
For this recipe I used a mixture of lentils (one of those soup mixes from a shop), feel free to create your own mixture or use just one type of lentil. The soup will taste great with any type of lentil. Beware it is very filling, I did say it serves 4 generously, I mean generously. This is a main course soup. No need for bread either.
It freezes beautifully. My plan is to freeze a batch to have a quick lunch on hand when I have had enough of cooking over the holiday season. You may just need to add more stock when reheating. I do hope my Dad will approve of the use of his handpicked mushrooms (and won’t miss the meat ).
LENTIL, PORCINI AND SPINACH SOUP
Serves 4 very generously.
ingredients:
1 large onion, chopped into small dice
3 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
1 large carrot, chopped into small dice
2 stick of celery, chopped into small dice
2 tsp fresh rosemary, finely chopped
2 Tbs of tomato puree
1 tin of tomatoes
15 - 30 g (1/2 - 1oz) dried porcini mushrooms
2 medium potatoes, cut onto 1cm dice
300 g (1 and 1/2 cups) lentils (I used a mix of red, puy and green)
6 cups (1.5 litres) of vegetable stock
200 g frozen spinach (300g fresh), defrost if using frozen
My Dad is coming over for Christmas and he promised to bring more of his foraged, hand cut and dried over wood stove wild mushrooms. That’s why I have been clearing “the last year’s stock” by sticking the woodland treasures into everything. They add so much flavour and meaty chewy texture. I love them.
Due to the never ending supply courtesy of my Dad I use them very liberally, by large handfuls. The cupboard where I store the bags of mushrooms is drowned in the their characteristic scent (there is a reason why you can’t find dried mushroom scented candles in shops). Dried porcini tend to be rather pricy in the UK, but luckily you don’t need a lot, half an ounce will give plenty of flavour to your dishes.
For this recipe I used a mixture of lentils (one of those soup mixes from a shop), feel free to create your own mixture or use just one type of lentil. The soup will taste great with any type of lentil. Beware it is very filling, I did say it serves 4 generously, I mean generously. This is a main course soup. No need for bread either.
It freezes beautifully. My plan is to freeze a batch to have a quick lunch on hand when I have had enough of cooking over the holiday season. You may just need to add more stock when reheating. I do hope my Dad will approve of the use of his handpicked mushrooms (and won’t miss the meat ).
LENTIL, PORCINI AND SPINACH SOUP
Serves 4 very generously.
ingredients:
1 large onion, chopped into small dice
3 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
1 large carrot, chopped into small dice
2 stick of celery, chopped into small dice
2 tsp fresh rosemary, finely chopped
2 Tbs of tomato puree
1 tin of tomatoes
15 - 30 g (1/2 - 1oz) dried porcini mushrooms
2 medium potatoes, cut onto 1cm dice
300 g (1 and 1/2 cups) lentils (I used a mix of red, puy and green)
6 cups (1.5 litres) of vegetable stock
200 g frozen spinach (300g fresh), defrost if using frozen
- In a large stock pot heat 60ml water (or stock) and the onions, garlic, carrot, celery and rosemary. Cook with the lid on for about 10min or until soften. Add more water if needed.
- Next add the tomato puree, cook for a minute.
- Add the tomatoes, cook for 10 min with the lid on.
- Next add the porcini, potatoes, stock and lentils. Cook on low heat for 30-40 min or until the lentils are cook. Depending on the how much the lentils absorb you may need to add more water if need.
- Add the spinach, if using frozen defrost and let it heat through in the soup. If using fresh let it wilt in the soup.
- Season and serve
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NHS, BREASTFEEDING AND LIFESTYLE DISEASE COSTS / RECIPE: ROOT VEGETABLE AND LENTIL BAKE
08/12/14 13:54
NHS, BREASTFEEDING AND LIFESTYLE DISEASE COSTS / RECIPE: ROOT VEGETABLE AND LENTIL BAKE
Last Friday, NHS announced, that £40million could be save if mothers would breastfeed their babies for longer. This is based on the reduction cost of treatment of conditions such as middle ear infection, gastroenteritis or lower respiratory infections, and necrotising enterocolitis. Breastfeeding reduces the risk of developing the above conditions. Of course there are many other benefits of breastfeeding and I whole heartedly support any initiative that would help mothers to successfully breastfeed their babies for longer. Investing into breastfeeding coaches that will have a calm and patient approach as opposed to overstretched midwives would be a great start.
Judging from comments on this article this news has not been received very well by a lot of mums. The most vocal are the mums who wanted to breastfeed, tried their best but for variety of reasons were not successful. They feel attacked. A lot of them already blame themselves for this “failure” and don’t need to be told they might be responsible for NHS loosing vast amounts of money. Motherhood can play with our minds, we tend to blame ourselves for any shortcomings, we think we are not good enough at this mum thing….I still blame myself for not breastfeeding my daughter as long as I did my son (by couple of months….). Or for weaning my son a bit too early (on advice of a health visitor and guidelines at that particular time).
No surprise mums are angry especially when we compare the £40million loss to other NHS statistics. In 2007 the estimated cost of the treatment of overweight and obesity related conditions in England (only) was £4.2 billion, the indirect cost (such as reduced productivity) was estimated between £2.6 billion and £15.6billion. A 2013 Telegraph article noted the cost of diseases caused by poor diet and sedentary lifestyle was more than £6billion. The cost of treatment of alcohol related harm in 2010-11 in England was £3.5billion a year. And finally the cost to the NHS in England of treating diseases caused by smoking in 2014 was £2 billion. These are pretty hefty sums for conditions we could and should prevent. In my view that’s where the real focus needs to be.
http://www.noo.org.uk/NOO_about_obesity/economics
http://www.nhs.uk/news/2014/12December/Pages/More-breastfeeding-would-save-NHS-millions.aspx
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/journalists/laura-donnelly/10174593/Obesity-bankrupting-the-NHS-warns-peer.html
http://www.ash.org.uk/files/documents/ASH_121.pdf
http://www.nta.nhs.uk/uploads/alcohol2012-13.pdf
ROOT VEGETABLE AND LENTIL BAKE
This is a very autumnal root vegetable bake, you can alter the flavour by choosing your favourite seasoning mix such as curry, Moroccon mix or Cajun.
1 cup (200g) red lentils
2 bay leaves
2 medium parsnips
2 large carrots
1 large red pepper
oil spray (optional)
2 leeks
1/4c (60ml) water
2 tbs Hungarian spice mix (or any other spice mix)
1 tbs tahini
1/2 cup (60g) ground almonds
salt and pepper to taste
Last Friday, NHS announced, that £40million could be save if mothers would breastfeed their babies for longer. This is based on the reduction cost of treatment of conditions such as middle ear infection, gastroenteritis or lower respiratory infections, and necrotising enterocolitis. Breastfeeding reduces the risk of developing the above conditions. Of course there are many other benefits of breastfeeding and I whole heartedly support any initiative that would help mothers to successfully breastfeed their babies for longer. Investing into breastfeeding coaches that will have a calm and patient approach as opposed to overstretched midwives would be a great start.
Judging from comments on this article this news has not been received very well by a lot of mums. The most vocal are the mums who wanted to breastfeed, tried their best but for variety of reasons were not successful. They feel attacked. A lot of them already blame themselves for this “failure” and don’t need to be told they might be responsible for NHS loosing vast amounts of money. Motherhood can play with our minds, we tend to blame ourselves for any shortcomings, we think we are not good enough at this mum thing….I still blame myself for not breastfeeding my daughter as long as I did my son (by couple of months….). Or for weaning my son a bit too early (on advice of a health visitor and guidelines at that particular time).
No surprise mums are angry especially when we compare the £40million loss to other NHS statistics. In 2007 the estimated cost of the treatment of overweight and obesity related conditions in England (only) was £4.2 billion, the indirect cost (such as reduced productivity) was estimated between £2.6 billion and £15.6billion. A 2013 Telegraph article noted the cost of diseases caused by poor diet and sedentary lifestyle was more than £6billion. The cost of treatment of alcohol related harm in 2010-11 in England was £3.5billion a year. And finally the cost to the NHS in England of treating diseases caused by smoking in 2014 was £2 billion. These are pretty hefty sums for conditions we could and should prevent. In my view that’s where the real focus needs to be.
http://www.noo.org.uk/NOO_about_obesity/economics
http://www.nhs.uk/news/2014/12December/Pages/More-breastfeeding-would-save-NHS-millions.aspx
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/journalists/laura-donnelly/10174593/Obesity-bankrupting-the-NHS-warns-peer.html
http://www.ash.org.uk/files/documents/ASH_121.pdf
http://www.nta.nhs.uk/uploads/alcohol2012-13.pdf
ROOT VEGETABLE AND LENTIL BAKE
This is a very autumnal root vegetable bake, you can alter the flavour by choosing your favourite seasoning mix such as curry, Moroccon mix or Cajun.
1 cup (200g) red lentils
2 bay leaves
2 medium parsnips
2 large carrots
1 large red pepper
oil spray (optional)
2 leeks
1/4c (60ml) water
2 tbs Hungarian spice mix (or any other spice mix)
1 tbs tahini
1/2 cup (60g) ground almonds
salt and pepper to taste
- Cook the lentils in 3 cups (750ml) water with the bay leaves for 15 min or till soft. Drain and set aside.
- Cut the parsnips, carrots and red pepper into bite size chunks, tip into a roasting dish, lightly spray with oil (I use rice bran) and roast in 200C oven for 40min or till soft and caramelized. Stir half way through.
- Slice and wash the leeks, saute in 1/4 cup (60 ml) together with seasoning mix till softened.
- Place the roasted vegetabels and seasoned leeks into a food processor and pulse till combined, well chopped but not too mushy. Place into a large bowl.
- Add the lentils, tahini and almonds to the vegetables. Mix well, add salt and pepper to taste.
- Spread into a square baking dish and bake at 180C till golden brown on top.
- Serve with gravy or cranberry sauce.