Using What's Available

My wife made a big roast broccoli salad for her daughter & family the other day (they're in quarantine at home), and she saved a big lot of broccoli stalks, knowing that I'd do something with them, rather than pitch them in the bin.

 

I chopped them into little chunks, peeling the tough-skinned parts, and added 4 small potatoes that I wanted to use up, chopped into little 1 cm cubes.

 

Soooo, I put a good glug of olive oil in the pressure cooker, added 1/2 of an onion, a shallot, and 4 cloves of garlic, all finely chopped, sauteed them until translucent. I had some leftover coriander, so I chopped the thick part of the stems, and added them.

 

One could have added a chilli to sauter with the rest, if you like that kind of thing. (I do, but decided to go soft today.)

 

Once all the flavour had been released from the aromatics, I added the chopped broccoli and potatoes, water to cover well, locked up the pressure cooker and cooked for around 10-15 minutes (this all depends on how much you're cooking).

 

While this is going on, cook a handful of French style (little green) lentils until they're 'al dente'.

 

Once the pressure released (±15 minutes?) I opened the cooker and started adding spices:

 

• a dash of curry powder, for depth

• a good dash of ground cumin

• salt & pepper

• a good glug of Maggi sauce

• the juice of one lemon

• a good dash of ground coriander

• a good dash of raz-el-hanout

• the leaves of the coriander, lightly chopped

 

Using a stick blender, blend all the stuff into a light, liquidey soup.

 

Added the lentils and their liquid, stired well.

 

Ladled into warmed bowls, topped with a bit of grated Parmesan, and served with some nice toasted sourdough...

 

A distancing delight!

 

 

 

Done