Lentil soup, pressure cooker

[skylark]

Pressure Cooker Lentil Soup

Rinse 1/2 cup lentils in water
Chop 1 onion and a few cloves garlic.
Sautee onion and garlic in 2 Tbs olive oil.
If you have another vegetable, such as carrots or cabbage, dice it and add it here.
When vegetables start to soften, add 1 Tbs flour. It will get sticky, so stir it.
After a minute or two of frying the flour, add lentils and 2 cups water.
Add 3 cloves, 1 tsp parsley and 1 tsp other herb (thyme, rosemary, marjoran, basil, etc.)
Add a little ground pepper.
Add a small amount of wine or cooking sherry.
Stir well, cap pressure cooker, bring up to pressure, reduce flame, cook 20 minutes under pressure.

Turn off flame, let pressure drop slowly.
Add 1/2 tsp salt (more or less to taste).

This soup can be eaten as is, or add instant potato flakes to thicken it.

You can also add a diced potato and some diced carrots or other vegetable, and simmer for a half hour. Add water as needed.  This makes a nice stew.

1/2 cup dry lentils will be enough for two people for lunch and with enough leftovers for dinner, if you add potatoes and are not a big eater.

[CapnK]

That sounds good and simple and filling, will have to try it (although knowing me, I will be substituting ingredients here and there). :)

[skylark]

I have made this recipe a few times now and really like it a lot.  Here is a slightly improved recipe.  The soup is excellent and is a meal by itself.  Add a slice of homemade rye bread and it is "enough" for dinner. If you are trying to save money on your food budget, try cooking this soup twice a week. If you need to be able to eat well without using refrigerated foods, this should be one of your regular meals.

Pressure Cooker Lentil Soup

1/2 cup lentils
2Tbs olive oil
1 onion
2 cloves garlic
2 potatoes
1 carrot
3 cloves
1 tsp Herbs de Provence or other herb
1 tsp Basil
some ground pepper
1/2 tsp celery seeds
1 TBS flour
a shot of wine, sherry or beer
2 cups water
1 tsp salt
a shot of soy sauce, Maggi, Bragg's Amino's, Worcestershire or other sauce

Rinse 1/2 cup lentils in water
Chop 1 onion and a few cloves garlic.
Sautee onion and garlic in 2 Tbs olive oil in a pressure cooker pot.
Peel and dice 2 potatoes and a carrot into the pot.
Add 3 cloves, 1 tsp herb de provence and 1 tsp other herb (basil , thyme, rosemary, marjoran, parsley, etc.)
Add a little ground pepper and a half teaspoon celery seed.
When vegetables start to soften, add 1 Tbs flour. It will get sticky, so stir it.
After a minute or two of frying the flour, add a shot of of wine or cooking sherry.
Stir well, add lentils and 2 cups water.
Stir well, cap pressure cooker, bring up to pressure, reduce flame, cook 20 minutes under pressure.

Turn off flame, let pressure drop slowly.
Add 1 tsp salt (more or less to taste) and your favorite flavoring sauce.

1/2 cup dry lentils will be enough for two people for lunch and with enough leftovers for dinner, if you add potatoes and are not a big eater.

This recipe gets my recommendation as the best pressure cooker - legume - unrefrigerated ingredients recipe that I have ever tried.  Good boat food!

[cubemonkey]

Norm and I just bought a Kuhn Rikon 4-qt 22cm pressure cooker. It's pretty much the smallest diameter one we could find, that will fit on Averisera's alcohol stove. I'm looking forward to trying it out, and your lentil soup recipe may be the first meal I make with it. Sounds really yummy! I ordered Lorna Sass' Great Vegetarian Cooking under Pressure as well. Fun in the kitchen.

-elizabeth

[cubemonkey]

So, the pressure cooker came this morning. This is the first Saturday I have had off, and the first Friday I have actually had any sleep, in oh about 6 months. So what a special day. We got up this morning, and the whole day was laid out before us! Then we heard a truck pull up, a bang at the front door, and lo and behold, the box with the pressure cooker was on my front step. We unpacked it, and stared at it a bit, then decided we'd cook dinner in it later and started to plan our day.

Norm & I went to the BSC to change fuel filters on two of the boats there. That took most of the day, til about 3:30. Then we set off for West Marine, where we bought jib sheets, main sheet and jib adjuster lines and bungee for Averisera. Fun to have a boat to buy for at West Marine! We did some more shopping, got some very cheap but topical plates, bowls and cups for the boat. And pillows for the delivery.

Then we hit the supermarket, bought the celery seed and the lentils, and headed home to make the Lentil Soup. Wow! It was so easy. The Kuhn Rikon was so quiet, and it worked with so little heat, once the pressure was up. I am trying to imagine how this will work on an alcohol stove, so was pleased to see that it took very little heat once it was going. The 20  minutes was perfect timing, at the first pressure level. Let it cool, per instructions, and Yumm, what a great tasting soup. The cloves are an inspiration! We actually ate the whole recipe for dinner, but I can see while sailing the a mugful would probably satisfy. After all, we spent the day outdoors, crawling around in small spaces, in temps in the low 40s here in Boston. So I think we needed a substantial meal. Some country bread finished us off, with a glass of wine. I can't think of a better way to end a really nice day.

So thanks Skylark! I'm going to try the grog link. You've earned some grog for this outstanding recipe.

-elizabeth (and Norm, sated on lentils)

[skylark]

Your alcohol stove should work fine.  It may take a few more minutes to bring the cooker to pressure but it will get there.  You may need a flame tamer to get the heat low enough in the maintain pressure stage.

I'm glad you liked the recipe. I think it originally was a pea soup recipe and I just tried the lentils out in place of split peas. 

For years I tried to figure out how the author of Voyaging on a Small Income could eat legumes all the time.  She talks a little bit about food but doesn't really go into detail.  I have tried a lot of recipes for "boat food" and found some decent food but I am not sure that I could survive on legumes for long periods of time.  Lentil soup is better than most of the "boat food" recipes that I have tried and is probably the most successful recipe for my tastes.  I would be very interested in any other recipes that you find and like.

The lentil soup seems to be healthy food as well.  I have been eating a lot of it instead of the usual meat and potatoes stuff and have been feeling pretty good lately, maybe there is some connection.

[cubemonkey]

The lentil soup seems to be healthy food as well.  I have been eating a lot of it instead of the usual meat and potatoes stuff and have been feeling pretty good lately, maybe there is some connection.

I would think there is a connection, Skylark. I'm pretty much a vegetarian, with fish thrown in for protein. When on my own, I rarely eat any fish, but with Norm around, we splurge more on fish.

We make all sorts of recipes with legumes. Cuban black bean soup is a big favorite, as well as pea soup, and french lentil stew, which is similar to your recipe, without the cloves, and with celery. Also, nuts can help to make complete protein, so a nice staple to have around is pignoli nuts. Throw them toasted into some vegetables (roasted brussel sprouts come to mind), a little balsamic vinegar, and a side of flavored rice, and you have a hearty meal. Add fresh bread to anything and I can't think of anything more satisfying.

We will be going down to retrieve the boat tomorrow, sailing sometime next week. I'm not sure we're planning on bringing the pressure cooker, we're heading into some storms and we don't plan to make many stops. But as soon as we get back to Boston, we'll be making our cruising plans a little more luxurious, with good meals.

-elizabeth