Lentils often get treated like pasta—boil them in a pot of water and call it done. Problem is a lot of the flavor goes right down the drain. Lentils, it turns out, are rich in glutamates, compounds responsible for deep, savory flavor. Cook them in too much water and you’re washing that away.

In Italy’s Marche region, Sunni Martelli, chef at the century-old Vittoria Ristorante in the town of Ascoli, showed us how to treat lentils with a little more respect. Marche is close to Umbria, lentil country and home to the Castelluccio lentil, small, thinskinned and so prized it has earned IGP protected status. Classic pairings include lenticchie con salsiccia (lentils with sausage) and zuppa di lenticchie, a rustic and simple soup made with olive oil, garlic and herbs.

Martelli’s soup is based on her grandmother’s recipe and rather than boil her lentils, she started by saut.ing lentils in olive oil and then cooked them risotto-style, adding warm water a little at a time. Chopped carrots, garlic, celery, bay leaf and rosemary went in and she continued to slowly add liquid. The result? A broth so savory and rich you’d swear chicken broth was involved. It wasn’t. In a nod to the seafood bounty of the Marche coast, she added shrimp to the soup, preparing them in a separate pan and then spooning them over the lentils.

Back in the Milk Street kitchen, we streamlined a bit, saut.ing the aromatics with the lentils instead of adding them in stages. We kept the risotto-like approach, however, as it offered more control. We also stirredlemony shrimp directly into the pot, which saved us a pan.

For Martelli, cooking is personal. “I have animals—hens, chickens— and I’d like to give them whatever is left from the plates but there’s never anything left. That’s the gift the customer gives me.”

Claire Lower

Claire Lower is the Digital Editor for Christopher Kimball’s Milk Street, with over a decade of experience as a food writer and recipe developer. Claire began writing about food (and drinks) during the blogging boom in the late 2000s, eventually leaving her job as a lab technician to pursue writing full-time. After freelancing for publications such as Serious Eats, Yahoo Food, xoJane and Cherry Bombe Magazine, she eventually landed at Lifehacker, where she served as the Senior Food Editor for nearly eight years. Claire lives in Portland, Oregon with a very friendly dog and very mean cat. When not in the kitchen (or at her laptop), you can find her deadlifting at the gym, fly fishing or trying to master figure drawing at her local art studio.