Red Lentil and Saffron Soup

You see that face in my bowl?
I didn't actually realize the saffron strands formed it until I looked at the pictures. But it must have been a warning.
Since the only way to make my kids eat some vegetables or legumes is to serve them as a soup, I'm pretty happy that they love soups of all kinds and colours. Actually, there's usually a table fight for the last ladle, and not once I had to give them my part too. But this time they dissappointed me (yeah, exactly, that's my face you see in the soup bowl!).
The soup was so creamy and delicious and yet they wouldn't eat it. The older one tasted it and didn't like the saffron ("you put something strange in it") and the little one refused to taste it because it wasn't yellow enough (she thought it was green).
You can't always expect the kids to eat everything, I know that, but I didn't expect I would have to eat the whole pot of soup by myself  ^__^

Red Lentil and Saffron Cream of Soup

* 300 g red lentils
* 1 big onion
* 4 dl milk
* 1 sachet of saffron (0,125 g)
* 4 bay leaves
* extra virgin olive oil
* salt
* ground nutmeg

Peel the onion and slice it thinly.
Sautèe the onion with 2 TBspoons olive oil and bay leaves in a large pot for until soft.
Add the carefully rinsed lentils and sautèe for 5-10 minutes. Then add 1 liter of water, bring to a boil, salt and cook covered on medium to low heat for 30-40 minutes.
Remove the bay leaves and puree the lentils in a blender or using a vegetable mill.
Pour it back into the pot, add the milk, the saffron adn a pinch of grated nutmeg. Heat the soup again and serve hot.
I also added some dry toasted sunflower seeds to my bowl.

Crema di lenticchie rosse allo zafferano


* 300 g lenticchie rosse
* 1 cipolla grande
* 4 dl latte
* 1 bustina di zafferano (0,125 g)
* 4 foglie di alloro
* olio extra vergine d'oliva
* sale
* noce moscata


Mondate e pelate la cipolla. Tagliatela a fette sottili e rosolatela in un'ampia pentola insieme a due cucchiai di olio d'oliva e alle foglie d'alloro.
Aggiungete le lenticchie sciacquate e controllate con cura, mescolate, lasciando brasare a fuoco dolce per 5-10 minuti. 
Bagnate con un litro d'acqua abbondante, portate a ebollizione, salate e cuocete per 30-40 minuti circa.
Togliete l'alloro dalle lenticchie e frullatele o passatele al passaverdura.
Aggiungete il latte, lo zafferano e una grattugiata di noce moscata.
Rimettete sul fuoco giusto per portare di nuovo a ebollizione, allungando con altra acqua se la crema fosse troppo densa.
Servite la crema calda.

Juha od crvene leće sa šafranom


* 300 g crvene leće
* 1 veća glavica crvenog luka
* 4 dl mlijeka
* 1 vrećica šafrana (0,125 g)
* 4 listića lovora
* ekstra djevičansko maslinovo ulje
* sol
* muškatni oraščić


Očistite luk i narežite ga na listiće.
Zagrijte dvije žlice maslinovog ulja u široj posudi i popržite luk zajedno s listovima lovora.
Leću dobro isperite i dodajte luku i lovoru. Pirjajte na laganoj vatri 5-10 minuta, a zatim zalijte s 1 litrom vode.
Kad provrije, posolite i kuhajte poklopljeno na laganoj vatri oko 30-40 minuta.
Izvadite lovor, a ostatak izmiksajte u blenderu ili propasirajte na pasirku.
Vratite u lonac, dodajte mlijeko, šafran i (ako volite) mrvicu naribanog muškatnog oraščića.
Zagrijte opet samo da kratko provrije i poslužite juhu toplu.
Ja sam je poslužila uz dodatak kratko poprženih sjemenki suncokreta.