Lentils soup with spare ribs & chorizo (Lentejas con
costilla de cerdo)
Four servings: 250 g of lentils; 150 g of spare ribs, cut into
1-inch pieces; 80 g of streaky bacon, cut into thick pieces;
some chorizo slices; 1 carrot, sliced; 1 onion, finely
chopped; 4 tbsp of tomato purée; 2 garlic cloves, peeled; 1
slice of bread fried in oil; 1 bay leave; 1 litter of
chicken/veggies broth;
Preparation: Salt and pepper the spare ribs and fry them
in a casserole with some oil until they get brown color, and
set aside. Next, add the chorizo slices, let them fry very
lightly, add the onion, and let simmer for some time on a
medium heat. After some minutes add the tomato purée, let
simmer another ten minutes (add some of the stock if you
see the ingredients look to thick). In the meantime, pound
the garlic cloves and the fried bread in a mortar, and the
result is added to the casserole together with the bay
leave. Finally, add the lentils and the stock; at first you will
think there's too much water, but lentils absorb a lot of
liquid, so keep an eye on them to see if they need more
water (not more broth)The cooking time now is around 4555 minutes (depending on the type of lentils). A pressure
cooker can also be used, although taking into account the
frying procedure explained before.