Rainy days are a gift, especially if you live in a moisture starved part of the country. While floods and hurricanes plague other parts of the country, we have been experiencing a severe drought. Look at pictures of the Great Salt Lake, the Rio Grande or Lake Powell! Each is disastrously low.
I remember years ago, before I moved west, talking to a friend who had moved to Utah telling me what a gift it was to HAVE to stay inside for a day because it was raining. At the time I didn’t ‘get it’ but here in the west the outdoors lures you daily.
For my afternoon today at home, inside, with rain dancing on my windows, I was given the combined gift of finishing an audio book while making soup. Perfection!
The book is set during the Great Depression in Kentucky and follows 6 women working as packhorse librarians. The ‘project’ was through the Works Progress Administration program ((WPA) with the program using women on horseback to reach remote areas of the ‘hollers’ (small sheltered valleys) from 1935 to 1943. The librarians earned around $28- a month and the women supplied their own horses.
The Giver of Stars follows the lives of one particular library team in Kentucky. Each librarian’s story sucked me in and made me want to finish the book quickly, while not wanting it to end. A perfect rainy day read.
All the while, I pulled together some soup – Red Lentil Pumpkin Soup
Truly? What is better than a book and soup on a rainy day? And this soup is so easy. The recipe calls for it to be cooked in a crock pot, but I used my La Creuset pan in a slow oven. I have a bit of kale-rice salad left from last night’s dinner and I think it will be a yummy combination.
INGREDIENTS
Yield:4 to 6 servings
- 1½ cups red lentils
- 1 (15-ounce) can pumpkin purée
- 1 teaspoon ground turmeric
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1 teaspoon ground coriander
- ½ teaspoon crushed red pepper (optional)
- ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 4 tablespoons olive oil, divided
- Kosher salt (such as Diamond Crystal)
- ½ cup pepitas (pumpkin seeds)
- ½ teaspoon cumin seeds
- 1 red onion, chopped
- 1 lemon, juiced
PREPARATION
Step 1
Add the lentils, pumpkin, turmeric, paprika, coriander, red pepper, cinnamon, 1 tablespoon olive oil and 1 tablespoon salt to a 6- to 8-quart slow-cooker; top with 5 cups water and stir to combine. Cook on high for 4 hours or on low for 6 hours, until the lentils are tender. (This soup holds well on warm if you need flexibility.)
Step 2
Before serving, warm 1 tablespoon olive oil in a small skillet over high heat. Add the pepitas, cumin seeds and, if the pepitas are unsalted, a pinch of salt. Cook, stirring constantly, until the pepitas are toasted and the cumin is sizzling and popping, 2 to 3 minutes.
Step 3
Scrape the seasoned pepitas onto a paper-towel lined plate. Put the skillet back over high heat and add the remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil, the red onion and a generous pinch of salt. Cook, stirring often, until the onion is browned and softened, about 8 minutes.
Step 4
Scrape the onion and its oil into the soup along with the lemon juice and stir to combine. Taste and add additional salt if necessary.
Step 5
Serve the soup in bowls and sprinkle with the toasted pepitas. The soup will thicken as it cools, so adjust the texture with additional water as necessary.
With fall coming in many parts of the country, I hope this post finds you intrigued. And the financial benefit is that you can get the book at the library (free) and the soup is inexpensive and time efficient. Enjoy.
