REVIEW & RECIPE!!!!

Okay, so have you ever gotten a new cookbook and every time you make something from it you think, "Wow, I think this is even better than the last recipe" and they keep getting better and better and yummier and yummier? 

Well this has happened to me, so be prepared to hear a lot about Mediterranean Harvest by Martha Rose Shulman.

This is an AMAZING cookbook. Typically Mediterranean cookbooks have Spanish, Italian and French recipes only but this one covers the entire region including Turkey, The Balkans and Northern Africa. And to top it all off, all the recipes are vegetarian, SUPER YUM! 

Last night I made the SUPER DELICIOUS Vegetable Soup with Chick Peas and Spinach!

ingredients:

1 cup dried chick peas, rinsed, soaked and drained.

6 cups water

salt

4 slices baguette

1.5 tbsp. sherry vinegar

2 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil

1 medium onion, chopped

3 cloves garlic, minced

2 medium tomatoes, peeled, seeded, chopped or 1 cup canned with juice

2 tsp paprika

1 lb potaotes, diced

fresh ground pepper

1 lb spinach, chopped

3 tbsp pine nuts (optional)

1.4 cup fresh chopped parsley

pinch saffron

1 large egg, hard cooked, chopped

directions:

1.**Combine the chick peas with 4 cups water and bring to a boil, reduce, cover, simmer for 1 hour. add 1 teaspoon salt and continue to simmer for another 30 minutes to 1 hour.

2. Toast bread until golden, tear, put into bowl and douce with vinegar. Set aside.

3. Heat oil in heavy soup pot. Add onions, cook until soft, about 3 minutes. Add 1/3 of garlic, tomatoes and paprika, stir often until it's a think pulpy mess, about 10 to 15 minutes.

4. Add chick peas and their liquid, potatoes, salt and pepper and remaining 2 cups of water. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer until potatoes are done. add spinach and simmer for another 10 minutes. Taste and adjust seasoning.

5. Add remaining garlic, soaked bread, pine nuts (optional), parsley, saffron, and hard-cooked egg. Stir once and shut off heat. Let soup rest for 10 minutes. Serve hot.

**I used canned chick peas, the water from the can, and homemade vegetable broth to make up for the missing liquid. 

This is seriously one INCREDIBLY DELICIOUS soup and it's even better the next day. 

5 out of 5 Luv Muffins!

enjoy!

martha