I had planned to use the last of the fresh tomatoes for this Hungarian soup from Bar Tartine. However, I didn’t get it all together in time, and ended up hustling the tomatoes into a quick sauce with Mark Bittman’s meatballs. If you don’t know about Mark Bittman’s meatball recipe, get on it.
Before that, I also cranked out an excellent Tuscan white bean tomato soup recipe. That was when I had a fair number of tomatoes. I didn’t make the croutons, but we had some cut rate ones in the drawer. Crusty bread is a must for this soup.
We had it with a side of Brussels sprouts with bacon. Brussels sprouts cooked in bacon grease are amazing, and that left me extra bacon to throw in the soup, though it didn’t need it.
Steve has taken to asking me when I start thinking about making a dish. We’ll sit down to Tuscan tomato soup and he says, “When did you decide to make this?” I answer, “Well, I soaked the beans two nights ago, so needed to use them, and yesterday I Googled “white beans and tomatoes” and there it was.
I started sprouting the lentils for this garlic soup about four days ago, in containers too small for them, and moved them to the fridge after two days.
Once we move to sprouted things and beans, I tend to work a little farther out. Also, once it’s fall, I have more time to do this kind of cooking, since I’m not just pulling stuff off the counter and sauteeing it and throwing it over pasta.
It was a good summer. But now it’s time for soup.
Black Garlic and Lentil Soup
from Bar Tartine cookbook
1 tablespoon lard or grapeseed oil (I used local sunflower oil)
1 white onion, cut into half-moons 1/4-in. thick
2 green bell peppers, stemmed, seeded, and cut into 1/2-in. dice (I had poblano and pimento)
1 serrano chile, stemmed, halved lengthwise, and cut into thin half-moons
6 cups chicken broth
25 peeled Black Garlic cloves or regular roasted garlic.*
8 dried arbol chiles or 1 tbsp. red pepper flakes
3 ripe medium-size tomatoes, cored and roughly chopped
4 cups sprouted lentils or 2 cups regular lentils
12 ounces dry-cured paprika sausage, such as Hungarian gyulai* or Spanish chorizo, or pepperoni (I had local wild rice brats)
12 garlic cloves, finely chopped (I used four large cloves)
12 ounces button mushrooms, sliced thin
2 bay leaves
1 to 2 tbsp. hot Hungarian paprika
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
2 teaspoons kosher salt (I used hickory smoked salt)
Black pepper
Sour cream, chopped green onions, and chopped fresh cilantro, for topping
1. Heat a large cast-iron pot over medium-high heat until a drop of water flicked on the surface sizzles. Melt lard in pan and add onion, bell peppers, and serrano. Cook, stirring occasionally, until vegetables are well charred on the edges but not blackened, about 15 minutes. Let cool, then chop coarsely.
2. In a blender, combine 2 cups broth, the black garlic, and arbol chiles. Purée until smooth. (You don’t need to do this if you’re using regular roasted garlic.)
3. Cut sausage into quarters lengthwise, then thickly crosswise. Put in a large pot and add black garlic purée, remaining 4 cups broth, tomatoes, lentils, garlic, mushrooms, and bay leaves. Bring almost to a simmer over medium heat, covered (do not let boil). Add paprika, peppers, and charred vegetables and simmer gently, covered, until lentils begin to fall apart and thicken the soup, about 20 minutes more. Discard bay leaves. Stir in vinegar and salt, and season to taste with black pepper.
4. Ladle soup into bowls and top each with sour cream, green onions, and cilantro.
*Black garlic is the garlic heads wrapped in plastic wrap and then several layers of foil and then kept at a temperature of 130 degrees F in a dehydrator, rice cooker or slow cooker for three weeks until soft and black. You can also buy it online.
I’m not sure why you wouldn’t roast the mushrooms when you’re roasting the garlic. Next time I will do that. Still, this soup was incredibly aromatic and delicious. I didn’t have quite as much heat in mine– I did have a small seeded, fresh red jalapeno and used a couple poblano peppers instead of the green bells, but I skipped the red pepper flakes.