Perhaps you receive occasionally calendars and magazines from your realtor. Typically, these have generic content, and an opportunity for the realtor to add a photo and contact information. Often, they include recipes, no doubt to evoke the image of cooking in one’s new home, aromas wafting from the kitchen that overlooks the perennial garden with the birdbath. (Wait, are birdbaths still a thing?)
My former law school classmate, reformed lawyer and now realtor Dave Monforton, is right on top of these marketing opportunities. His magnetized football schedule (UM, MSU, and the Lions) is an annual mainstay on our refrigerator. He sends letters, calendars, and magazines. He can be sure that when I think “realtor,” my thought bubble has his smiling face.
The latest was “American Lifestyle” magazine, “Compliments of Dave Monforton.” The cover had an appealing photo of “Sushi Salad,” and the promise of more recipes for “Vegetarian Comfort Food” inside. They all looked pretty good, but one that caught my eye, especially during this Lenten season, was for “Bread, Tomato, and Lentil Soup.”
Lentil soup has a well-deserved reputation for being bland and at best, grudgingly satisfying. To make it palatable, I typically spike it with salt, lemon, and Frank’s Red Hot, and chase it with chewy Greek bread slathered with butter.
Not Dave Monforton’s recipe. From the garlic and shallot base in a red wine/tomato base, to the enticing spice blend of pepper, smoked paprika, cumin, and coriander, this version explodes with flavor – especially with its finish of torn Italian bread drizzled with herb oil.
Notice I said “Dave Monforton’s” recipe. I have no illusions that Dave came up with this, nor did anything more than lend his name and face to the magazine’s card insert. But without any other attribution, nor any hits from Google, I’m sticking with my realtor.
Bread, Tomato, and Lentil Soup
1 TBS olive oil
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 shallot, minced
1 1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 tsp smoked paprika
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp coriander
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper
1/2 cup red wine
4 cups crushed tomatoes
1 cup vegetable broth
2 tsp brown sugar
2 cups lentils, cooked (I mixed black and green)
3 cups Italian bread, sliced or cubed and toasted
Herb Oil:
3 TBS olive oil
2 TBS parsley, chopped
2 TBS cilantro, chopped
1. Heat the lentils and keep warm.
2. Heat oil in a medium soup pot over medium-high heat. Sauté garlic and shallots with salt, pepper, paprika, cumin, coriander, and red pepper flakes for 3 minutes or until garlic and shallots are tender.
3. Pour in the red wine, and bring to a simmer. Stir in the crushed tomatoes, vegetable broth, and brown sugar. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and cook for 15 minutes.
4. Ladle soup into bowls, and top with lentils and bread. In a small bowl, stir together the herb oil ingredients. Drizzle the herb oil over soup before serving.
Thanks, Dave. From lawyer, to realtor, to master chef - I appreciate you helping to bring some much-needed flavor to these long days stuck at home.
Nick Roumel is a principal with Nacht & Roumel PC, a firm in Ann Arbor specializing in employment and civil rights litigation. He has many years of varied restaurant and catering experience, has taught Greek cooking classes, and wrote a food/restaurant column for “Current” magazine in Ann Arbor. Follow him at Twitter or Facebook @nickroumel, or Instagram @nroumel. He is also a candidate for Washtenaw County Circuit Court Judge (nickforjudge.com).
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