Lentil Soup and Savoury Stuffed Goodness

I can't believe I have yet to share my recipe for Lentil Soup.  The Lentil Soup.  The stuff of my childhood, the broth of comfort and nourishment.  Sad to say, but today won't be the day I do it either.  Just as I was going to make the good old standby, I said no, let's try it a bit differently.  So I did, and here it is.  

     Instead of making some bread to dip into it's brothy loveliness, I went with making some sort of bready type thing with spinach and ended up with a cross between an empanada and a panzerotti.  As I was in the middle of painstakingly rolling, cutting and stuffing these beauties I kept thinking to myself, these babies better be good because this is somewhat labour intensive.  But they were good.    Very, very good.

     Now I am all for supporting local producers and buying local goods, but I draw the line at supporting farmer's who use genetically modified organisms in their products and who feed these to their livestock.  Apparently Greece is a 93% GMO free zone, so I only buy organic feta when I find it or Feta from Greece.

LENTIL SOUP with Brown Rice and Feta

6 cups organic vegetable or chicken stock

4 cups water

1 1/2 cups organic lentils (any kind but I used green)

1 cup organic brown rice (short or long grain)

1 28 oz can organic tomatoes, chopped or squished

3 organic carrots, chopped

1 cup organic onion, chopped

1/2 cup organic celery, sliced

5 cloves organic garlic, minced

1/2 tsp each organic oregano, thyme and basil

1 organic bay leaf

1/2 cup organic parsley, minced

2 Tbsp organic red wine vinegar

Black pepper and sea salt to taste

Method:  Mix broth, water, lentils, rice, undrained tomatoes, carrots, onion, celery, garlic, and herbs in a large pot.  Heat soup to boil, reduce and simmer until lentils and rice are tender, about 1 hour.  Stir occasionally.  

     Remove and discard bay leaf.  Stir in parsley, vinegar, sea salt and pepper to taste.  If necessary, thin with additional water.  

SPINACH AND FETA WHEELS

THE DOUGH:

4 oz organic all purpose whole wheat flour

4 oz organic all purpose unbleached white flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 Tbsp organic sugar

1/2 tsp sea salt

1 organic egg, lightly beaten

100 ml olive oil

50 ml white wine

1 organic egg yolk, beaten with 1 Tbsp organic milk

Method:  Combine flour, baking powder, sugar and salt in a bowl.  Gradually mix in egg, oil and wine, stirring and when it begins to clump, transfer to a floured surface and knead for 3-4 minutes until smooth and elastic.  Cover and set aside to rest for 30 minutes.

FILLING:

1 pound organic spinach, chopped

1 organic onion, chopped

1 clove organic garlic, chopped

2 Tbsp e.v olive oil

1/2 cup feta cheese

sea salt and pepper to taste

organic paprika

Method:  Heat a large skillet over medium high heat.  Add oil and onion and saute until the onion is soft about 5 mintues.  Add the garlic and spinach and saute until the liquid evaporates. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

ASSEMBLY:

Preheat oven to 400*.  Roll out dough on floured surface to a thickness of 3 mm.  Use a 3" cookie cutter to cut out 18 circles.  Put 9 of them aside and cover the rest.  Brush around edges of the rounds with the yolk mix.  Place 1 Tbsp of the spinach filling in the centre and sprinkle with some feta cheese.  Cover with one of the reserved doughs and press firmly around the edges to seal, crimp edges with a fork.  Transfer to a greased tray, brush tops with the yolk and spinkle with some paprika.  Bake until golden 15-20 mins.  Serve hot!