Assembling

Money spent on groceries yesterday: about 40 euros, but effectively nothing, because I was shopping for another eetclub installment (the best club in the world: I shop, cook and clean up, and my guests pay).

Yesterdays dinner was composed of leftovers, after D. and I took the wine soaked laptop apart. I'm not touching it for a couple of days.. hoping that letting some air flow through it will help....

We had leek and yellow split pea soup, a halloumi spring onion frittata, and bulgur salad with mint and parsley.

The soup was amazing, mostly because I let it burn ever so slightly, which gave it a lovely deep caramelized flavor. So here's a recipe that tells you to actually burn your soup. Trust me. The budget element: I had a large bunch of gorgeously fresh parsley that was too lage to fit into the vegetable drawer. As I cut off the stalks, thinking I might as well throw them away, I had the idea to use them in the soup. Because it cooks for about an hour, the tough stalks become tender (but still retain some bite) and give a lovely green and fresh flavor to this earthy soup.

Tonight: Falafel, Musakhan, Basbousa.

Sounds like a fairytale, right?

Leek and yellow split pea soup

1 fat leek, the white and tender green part, cleaned and sliced
The stalks from a large, very fresh bunch of parsley, finely chopped
1 large clove of garlic
a knob of butter and a tablespoon of olive oil
a cup of yellow split peas
chicken or vegetable stock, about 500 ml.
a large pinch each of dried thyme, ground cumin and red pepper flakes

Heat the butter and oil in pot. Add leeks and garlic and sweat them until soft but not brown. Add the peas, thyme, cumin and pepper flakes and half a cup of water. Cook until the peas have absorbed the water and the resultung mush is starting to stick to the bottom of the pan. Stir to dislodge the brown crusty bits at the bottom of the pan and add the stock. Simmer slowly for 45 minutes, adding more water if necessary to make a thick and creamy but not too stodgy soup. taste for salt and pepper.