1 cup brown lentils
2 each bay leaves
1 each celery stick, finely chopped
2 tsp ginger, grated
8 cup vegetable stock
1 tbsp olive oil
1 large red onion, chopped
2 each cloves garlic, crushed
2 medium tomatoes, peeled & chopped
1 bunch spinach, chopped
2 tsp cider vinegar
1 tsp cilantro, chopped
Directions
Combine lentils, bay leaves, celery, ginger and stock in large pan,
simmer, uncovered, about 30 mins or until lentils are just soft. Heat
oil in the pan, add onion and garlic, cook, stirring, until onion is
soft. Add tomatoes, cook, stirring, until tomatoes are pulpy. Add the
spinach, stir over heat until spinach is wilted. Add spinach mixture
to lentil mixture, stir in vinegar and coriander; stir until heated
through. Discard bay leaves before serving.
Servings: 6 servings
Lentil & Spinach Soup Recipe brought to you by Recipe Ideas
Categories: Bean; Soup; Spinach; Vegetable
The History of Recipes
Historians have traced the existance of recipes way back into history, at least as far back into recorded history as the Egyptians, and possibly even further than that. Interesting though that is, generally, these old records were just very basic hieroglyphic or cunieform recipes for preparing meals.
Fascinatingly, the oldest recipe discovered so far, according to academics are a few stone tablets in the Sumerian language describing the baking of bread which is then used to make a drink, quite possibly a form of beer as it is recorded as making those who drank it feel exhilarated. As our culinary historical trip moves on a few more years there were a couple of interesting books from the 14th Century ; a cookery book published under the title `Forme of Cury`, and another called `Curye on Inglish`. Despite their titles, these are unconnected to the spicy food that appears on menues today, but instead accounts of the types of food on the menues of the rich. Later on in the 1400s, knights returning from the crusades brought us a variety of foods and herbs from middle-east cuisine, including spices such as parsley and basil. These new foods and spices prompted a torrent in recipe manuscripts, some of which are kept safe in private cookery archives. For the next few years, the wealthy families of Wesstern Europe competed to lay on the most extravagent meals, and because of this chefs and their recipe collections were greatly in demand. Nevertheless, it wasn`t until the nineteenth century that fine cookery and recipe publications reached a high level of popularity. The Famous Mrs Beeton in the UK, and the equally famous Fannie Merritt Farmer in the USA, dedicated years of their lives to collecting, trying out, and recording the recipes that were being prepared for the better households. By the advent of the twentieth century, recipe publications are highly popular mostly as a result of higher levels of literacy, leisure time and being a little richer. The introduction of the TV brought us TV cooks and the demand for the accompanying recipe books. And that brings us to the present day and the invention of the internet, permitting us all to search through massive numbers of recipes like the ones you can find on sites such as the one you are reading now. |
We hope you enjoy this Lentil & Spinach Soup recipe.
