Recipe: Lentil Minestrone

Lentil Minestrone
Newsgroup: rec.food.veg.cooking/Susan Peters

2 tablespoons olive oil
2 cups onion -- finely chopped
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1/4 cup fresh parsley -- chopped
4 cloves garlic -- minced
3 carrots - diced
1 cup celery -- chopped
salt & freshly ground pepper to taste
1 cup lentils -- sorted and rinsed
Aromatics: 2 bay leaves, 8 parsley branches, & 6 thyme sprigs
10 cups water or vegetable stock*
soy sauce to taste
1/2 (10 oz.) bag spinach (washed and trimmed)
2 cups cooked shell pasta (4 oz. dry)
thin shavings of Parmesan cheese or Parmesan-Reggiano (optional)

Heat oil in a wide soup pot with onion. Saute over high heat, stirring frequently, until lightly browned, about 10 minutes. Add tomato paste, parsley, garlic, and vegetables, and cook 3 minutes more. Add lentils, aromatics, and water and bring to a boil. Lower heat and simmer, partially covered, for 30 minutes. Add 2 teaspoons of salt and season with pepper and additional salt, if desired, to taste. Add soy sauce to taste, starting with 1 tablespoon. Remove the aromatics.

Boil the greens in salted water until they are tender and bright green, then chop them coarsely. Just before serving, add the greens and the cooked pasta to the soup and heat through. Serve with extra virgin olive oil drizzled into each bowl, a generous grind of pepper, and the Parmesan, if desired.

OPTIONAL PREPARATION METHOD: I added the greens and pasta to the soup and cooked for 10-12 additional minutes.