Preparation

• 

• Prepare the red split lentils following the procedure described in cooking red split lentils [basic recipe] or, if you have them ready in the freezer, thaw a double portion.

• Prepare the light pumpkin velouté.

  Clean the pumpkin, slice it, and remove the skin, cut the flesh into cubes: the smaller they are, the faster they will cook.

  Place them in a saucepan [smaller or larger according to the amount of flesh], add a little water just enough to cover the pumpkin cubes, bring to a boil, and let cook with a lid on low heat for 5 minutes.

  With the heat off, add the vegetable bouillon cube [optional] and mix with a silicone spatula until it melts within the pumpkin.

  Add salt and grind the pepper.

  Blend with an immersion blender directly in the saucepan or in a tall and narrow glass.

  The light pumpkin velouté is ready.

  I used about 1 1/2 cups.

  Alternatively, simply add boiled and blended pumpkin.

  

• Clean the shallot and cut it in half or in quarters.

• In a pan, pour:

  • the shallot;

  • the light pumpkin velouté;

  • a vegetable bouillon cube;

  • the saffron [or turmeric];

  bring to a boil and mix.

• Pour the red split lentils into the yellow soup and incorporate them by stirring with a silicone spatula.

  Adjust the salt and grind the pepper.

  Let it simmer on low heat until the yellow soup reaches the desired consistency.

• Your yellow soup with pumpkin, shallots, and lentils is ready.

  Enjoy your meal.

• 

• Cook the fregola in water, rinse it under running water, and drain it.

  Meanwhile, heat the yellow soup.

  Pour the fregola into the pan with the yellow soup and mix.

• Plate.

  Add a drizzle of raw oil and grind the pepper.

• Your fregola with pumpkin, shallots, and lentils is ready.

  Enjoy your meal.

• In Sicily, specifically in Ragusa, it is not easy to find fregola, and buying it online involves considerable shipping costs.

  I received it as a gift from a friend [thanks again, Jlenia] who found it exceptionally at Lidl, and later I bought it at a Deco’ point of sale in Tremestieri, Catania.

• Combining it with pasta, rice, or other cereals allows the best absorption of legume proteins.

  The cereals in these dishes, in fact, compensate for the missing amino acids in legumes, allowing for a complete amino acid pool.

  Choose cereals preferably whole grain.

  To learn more: how to combine legumes in the diet.

• • green soup with celery, onion, and peas;

  • red soup with chard, onion, and lentils.