Putting hair on chests

This is exactly the time of year, yes even here, when you need something warming inside you, something big and hearty. A fireman would do, but in the absence of that, this.  

I posted my recipe for Sopa de Lentejas a couple of years ago on Facebook, and I've had some good feedback about it.

I had intended to post the recipe for the rabbit and apricot tagine that I've got plopping away on the stove as I write.  I'm going to be serving it to the Alcútar-Barnsley contingent in about an hour, but I changed my mind about writing it up. Get used to that, btw.  It's quite a summery dish and it's also the first time I've tagined a babbit, so I'll leave that for another post, once I've seen how it turns out. 

The recipe below is what Alpujarrans eat when the wind descends from the high sierra and there's a hint of winter in the air. It's like that here today. The temperature has dropped about ten degrees and there's rain on the way this evening; some people are predicting snow at the weekend! After the record-breaking warmth we've enjoyed so far this November, we can't complain.

Sopa de Lentejas, or just Lentejas, as they say here, is a classic Spanish dish that everyone swears is best cooked by their Mamá. If you don't have a Spanish mamá handy, cook it yourself.

Ingredients

• A couple of slices of bacon, chopped.
• 400g uncooked chorizo (not the kind you get in slices, the whole sausage)
• 500g brown or Puy lentils
• 2 carrots, roughly chopped
• 1 clove of garlic, finely chopped
• 1 red pepper, roughly chopped
• 2 tsp thyme
• 1 large onion, finely chopped
• 1 tsp pimentón (or ordinary paprika if you can't get it)
• 1 tblsp tomato purée
• 3 large tomatoes, skin and seeds removed, chopped
• (1 tin of chopped tomatoes can replace the above two ingredients)
• Water
• Salt and pepper, pinch or sugar and a slug of balsamic vinegar
• A handful of chopped fresh parsley, if you have it

Method

1. Fry the bacon in a large pan with a little olive oil for 2 minutes, no more. Add the whole chorizo, lentils, carrots, garlic, pepper, and thyme and then add water until it's about 2cm (1 inch) above the lentils. Bring to the boil. Turn down the heat to minimum and simmer for 30 mins. Meanwhile fry the onion gently in plenty of olive oil until it starts to turn golden brown. Turn the onion out onto kitchen paper and leave for a couple of minutes to allow most of the oil to drain off. 
2. After the 30 minutes, remove the whole chorizo from the lentils and chop into thin(ish) slices and return to the pan. Add the tomatoes, tomato purée, pimentón and the fried onions and continue to simmer for 10 minutes. You might need to add some more water, it depends on whether you want more of a soup or a stew consistency. Taste and add salt and pepper and possibly a pinch of sugar and a glug of balsamic or sherry vinegar. Cook for another couple of minutes.
3. Serve in a bowl, sprinkled with parsley and with some good country bread. 

Oh, now look at that! Just as I've finished writing I can hear the patter of rain on the leaves of the fig tree below the dining room window. I'd better give the tagine an extra half teaspoon of dried chillies!