With temperatures dropping and electricity prices rising, I keep wondering when the pain factor will be high enough for South Africans to start demanding better insulation for their homes. I have been living in Cape Town for the past seven years and the same conversations are heard every year. They either revolve around “how much colder it has gotten since last year” or “how the electrical bills have sky rocketed and now the under floor heating really cannot be used”.
What we all fail to realize is that we live in winter conditions for 5 months of the year. Ok not quite Montreal cold of -40C but it is still cold and homes still have to be heated.
If we had the choice of using double paned glass and demanded better insulated doors, windows and ceilings then, our bills would be reduced and our chilblains would be of yesteryear.
Since my windows are sieves for the frosted air at night, I decided to make a body warming, soul satisfying chorizo and lentil soup (more like a stew) to warm my body from the inside out.
As I perused my winter garden,
I realized I had all the makings for a soup recipe I found on Crush Online. An inspiring foodie online magazine that I subscribe to and so can you. Go to their web site and sign up. It is easier than paying your rates on line!
Back to the soup…There is nothing difficult about this recipe other than having to chop a few vegetables and grate some fresh parmesan cheese. I do not use canned tomatoes anymore since learning that the lining of the cans have a chemical called BPA that has proven to leech into the tomatoes. For this recipe, I used baby tomatoes from my garden that I roasted a few months ago and kept frozen in my freezer. A memory taste of the warmth of summer past.
Another small aside …if the chorizo is not spicy enough, add a seeded, minced red chili with the vegetables to up the heat factor!
Hope you enjoy this soup as much as we did. I must admit that the heat radiating from my filled belly kept me warm all night long. Bon Appétit!
- 250gm chorizo sausage, casing removed and meat diced (4 sausages aprox.)
- 1 cup onion, chopped
- ½ cup celery stalks, finely chopped
- 1 cup carrots, finely chopped
- 2 teaspoons ground cumin
- 1 cup uncooked brown lentils
- 4 cups chicken or vegetable stock
- 1 ½ cups roasted tomatoes (jar of tomatoes)
- ¼ cup flat leaf parsley, chopped
- salt and pepper to taste
- ½ cup parmesan cheese, grated
- In a medium pot, fry the chorizo until slightly crispy
- Add onion, celery carrots and cumin and sauté until soft and beginning to brown.
- Stir in lentils, followed by the stock and tomatoes, cover and bring to a boil.
- Reduce heat, cover pot and simmer for 30 minutes or until the lentils are tender (and the flavours have developed).
- Before serving, stir in the parsley and season with salt and pepper to taste.
- Sprinkle with grated Parmesan and serve hot.
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