Lentil and bacon soup

My classic favourite soup.  Probably could do with a more complicated recipe.

Ingredients

1 tbsp olive oil
1 onion , diced
2 x 70g packs pancetta cubes
1 carrot (about 120g), finely diced
1 tsp ground cumin
½ tsp turmeric
 2 garlic cloves , finely chopped
1 chilli , sliced
2 low-salt stock cubes
250g red lentils , rinsed

Tips for next time

Taste was pretty good but could have been better.  Improvement points would be:  try browning some of the bacon; the stock cubes were certainly needed; the chilli also added a lot - could do with two instead of one; also underdid it a little on the pancetta and almost no garlic taste even though included two cloves.  Also no real problem to have included all of the carrot plus the onion not being so finely chopped didn't make much difference.

Greek salad

This salad is so easy but so delicious - a perfect way to use feta cheese. There seem to be a couple of variations: don't use vinegar; don't use a red pepper.

One recommendation is to use salt and leave the tomatoes and cucumber for a while. The red onion also is an important ingredient and oregano is mentioned in more than one recipe.

Ingredients

•  6 firm ripe tomatoes, coarsely chopped 
• 3 Lebanese cucumbers, coarsely chopped 
• 1 red onion, sliced into rings 
• 1 red capsicum, halved, deseeded, coarsely chopped
• 200g marinated Greek olives
• 220g marinated feta, coarsely chopped 
• 1 tsp dried Greek oregano
• 1 tsp salt 125ml (1/2 cup)
• olive oil 60ml (1/4 cup) 
• white vinegar

Method

1. Step 1 Combine tomato, cucumber, onion, capsicum, olives and feta in a salad bowl. Sprinkle with oregano and salt.
2. Step 2 Whisk together the oil and vinegar in a jug. Drizzle the salad with dressing and toss to combine. Serve immediately.