Exactly What I Needed

So tonight I threw together a pasta, quite simple, really almost no work. And it turned out to be exactly what I wanted tonight. Somehow fresh tasting, and still interesting enough to make it feel like a splendid meal. The chives I grew on the balcony last summer have survived, and I managed to find some fresh aragula lettuce. Yummy!

Yesterday I had dinner at a friends house, which included asparagus and some salsicca that was oh sooo tasty. I wonder if I will regret not going to the right store when getting some sausages to go with the risotto I was planning for tomorrow, when my mother will be visiting. Let's hope the ones I have will do.

And, the lentil soup I made on Monday by the way : It was extremely simple. Some minced onion (one small) and pancetta (four slices) sauted in a little oil. Vegetable stock (or should it be broth, I'm uncertain of the difference of those words in English? anyway, about 750 ml, a little more than 3 cups) and lentils (200 grams, about 7 oz) added, together with salt, a little pepper and few crumbled leaves of fresh thyme. Cooked until lentils where nice and soft and served with a little lemon juice and grilled pancetta. Be carefull not to throw all the grilled pancetta on the kitchen floor, pancetta is quite fatty and you will immediately need to clean the floor (speaking from experience). :)

Quick Dinner

We arrived home rather late after a trip to the gym on our way home from work. We had been planning to make some beetroot and potatoe-mashed together and fried thing (I have no idea what to call such a thing in English, rödbetsbiffar is what I would call it), but at least I was far too hungry by the time we got started. So we ended up with a quick lentil-and-tomato soup instead. But, with a dash of cinnamon, and some fresh cheese with crumbled feta and honey it tasted well enough, though not sensational. Excellent fast food though. And a thick, almost stewy soup is perfectly warming this time of the year. (Though, to my total dismay, it's been raining today. It's ice EVERYWHERE. I mean, snow's been around for almost a month, but as soon as December starts, it has to decide to rain?! Awful. I wish for cold and more snow to cover the stupid ice.)

The soup went something like this:
Carefully soften one minced red onion and a couple of minced garlic cloves in a little oil. When properly softened, add first about 1 Tbsp of paprika and then three diced potatoes and 2 dl of red lentils. Stir and add 1 can of peeled tomatoes (400 g) and 1 l water. Season with some vegetable stock (we used powder version, real vegetable stock instead of water might improve the result), some honey, oregano, white pepper and cinnamon.
Serve with some fresh cheese into which you have stirred some feta cheese crumbles and a little more honey. Maybe some black pepper.

Cooks in about 10-15 minutes of boiling.