Sweet Tea… in Italia!

Italy, Amazing Food, Love and Wine Y'all!

With Christmas time moving in…. I did a quick survey of the house and I still had one pumpkin left that I needed to eat. So I cut up half of it and put in the fridge, I will make that into baked pumpkin today. The other half I made into a soup. This soup… Now everything is ready for when the Christmas spirit hits me like a ton of bricks!

Red Lentil Pumpkin Soup

This is super simple to cook up on a weeknight, this is a one pot hearty soup for a cold night.

Ingredients
  

  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 shallot chopped or 1/2 onion, chopped
  • 3 carrots peeled and chopped
  • 1 teaspoons cumin powder you can omit if you don’t like cumin
  • 2 cloves garlic minced
  • 1 small pumpkin cubed
  • 8 cups vegetable broth
  • 2 cups red lentils
  • 1 bag of fresh spinach or 8 oz box of frozen spinach
  • 1 cup dry grain orzo, rice or farro
  • 1 bay leaf
  • Dash of red pepper flakes
  • Gops to taste

Instructions
 

  • heat up a large pot or dutch oven over medium-high heat.
  • Add the olive oil, onion, carrots, and curry powder. Simmer for 3-5 minutes or until onion is tender and translucent.
  • Stir in the garlic, pumpkin, Gops and Red pepper and saute’ for 1-2 minutes.
  • Add broth, lentils, grain (I used Farro) and bay leaf.
  • Bring to a simmer and cook until lentils are softened, grain is cooked and the pumpkin is soft, about 20-30 minutes.
  • Stir in the and spinach. Cook until spinach is wilted. If you are using frozen spinach, add it in with the lentils.