Recipes
Lentil Soup With Grano
Mike Orlando
Grano (Italian for “grain”) is polished durum wheat, which has a nutty flavor. Mike Orlando is the chairman of Sunnyland Mills, a seller of whole grains. His father, Carl, is 100 percent Sicilian and is very much into food. He took one of Mike’s recipes and added his own flair and Italian style to create a soup “like my mother used to make.” It harkens back to the simplicity and wholesomeness of the old days in the Sicilian countryside where Mike’s grandparents grew up. Va bene!
Serves 4
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, plus more to drizzle on finished soup
1/3 cup chopped onion
1/3 cup chopped red or green bell pepper
2 cloves garlic, minced
6 cups water
1/3 cup diced carrots
1 cup brown lentils
1/3 cup grano
1 (4-ounce) can unseasoned tomato sauce
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup small shell uncooked macaroni (optional)
Freshly grated Parmesan cheese
Heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the onion, bell pepper, and garlic and sauté for 5 to 10 minutes, until tender. Add water, carrots, lentils, and grano and cook over medium heat for 30 minutes, or until tender. Add the tomato sauce and salt and pepper. Add the macaroni in the last 6 minutes. Sprinkle Parmesan cheese and drizzle with olive oil for each serving.