It’s not that I haven’t been cooking – or eating – since early December, but somehow all the feasting and visits from friends and family got in the way of writing. It was a productive period nonetheless, culinarily speaking, in which I unexpectedly improved a foie gras recipe and expanded my cookie baking horizon, all of which should make for a profuse Christmas season next year, if I am better organized.
But it’s 2011, and since I just learned that lentils are a New Year’s tradition in some regions of France and Italy – the way black-eyed peas and collard greens are here in the South – and because I will grab any excuse to make this soup, here it is at last, the deliciously simple lentil soup with cumin from Moro: The Cookbook, somewhat rewritten but barely altered.
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From Moro: The Cookbook by Sam and Sam Clark
2 cups (400g) lentils (green, red, or yellow)
3 medium onions
6 garlic cloves
Olive oil
3 heap tsps cumin seeds
Sea salt
Freshly ground back pepper
Lemon, plain yogurt, and Harissa to serve (optional)
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To wash the lentils, cover with cold water and drain in a fine mesh sieve.
Finely slice onions and garlic.
Heat enough olive oil to cover the base of a large heavy-bottom saucepan, add the onions and brown over medium heat, stirring occasionally (about 10 minutes). Meanwhile roughly grind the cumin seeds in a mortar. Once the onions are nicely golden, add the garlic and cumin and stir. Then add the lentils and stir to mix with the onion/cumin mix.
Cover the lentils with 4 times their volume of cold water (8 cups or 2 l), place lid on the pan, and let simmer gently until lentils are soft, about 40 minutes, checking occasionally to add water if necessary. (There should be some excess water in the pot otherwise it will be a purée rather than a soup, but not too much because the soup should be nice and thick.)
Season with salt and pepper and blend until smooth.
Squeeze some lemon and add a spoonful of good plain tart yogurt or some Harissa if desired.
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