Fry

Best-Ever French Lentil Soup

by:
December 24, 2010
4
1 Ratings
Best-Ever French Lentil Soup
  • Serves 6
Author Notes

This recipe is adapted from Dorie Greenspan's Around My French Table, and it was a revelation to me! I have never been a huge fan of lentils, but the French lentils du Puy in this soup have fantastic flavor and are much more interesting than the usual brown lentils from the store. I also love the seasoning here - the orange peel in particular is unexpected and oh-so-delicious. Since the soup doesn't contain any bacon or other meat, I like to float a little round of crispy pancetta on top of the soup to provide some textural contrast and yummy pork flavor. —cupcakemuffin

What You'll Need
Ingredients
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 2 onions, thinly sliced
  • 1 small fennel bulb, thinly sliced
  • 1 large carrot, peeled and thinly sliced
  • 6 cups chicken stock
  • 1 cup lentils du Puy, rinsed and picked over
  • 1 strip orange peel (about 2 inches long), white pith removed and cut into 3 pieces
  • 6 black peppercorns
  • 6 coriander seeds
  • 2 cloves
  • 1 1-1/2-inch piece fresh ginger, peeled and coarsely chopped
  • Salt and pepper
  • 6 thin slices pancetta
Directions
  1. Warm the oil in a Dutch oven over low heat. Add the onion, fennel, and carrot and stir the vegetables until they are coated in the oil. Cover the pot and cook, stirring often, until the vegetables are softened, 10 minutes.
  2. Add the broth, lentils, and orange peel to the pot. Wrap the peppercorns, coriander seeds, and clove in cheesecloth and tie shut, or use a disposable tea filter. Add to the pot along with the ginger. Bring to a boil, and then lower the heat and simmer, covered, until the lentils are very soft, 60 to 90 minutes. Season with salt and pepper after about 45 minutes of cooking time.
  3. Remove the orange peel and spice sachet. Working in batches, puree about half the soup in a regular blender or with an immersion blender.
  4. Fry the pancetta in a non-stick pan over medium heat until crispy. Ladle the soup into bowls and float a round of pancetta in each bowl.
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1 Review

iheartblueberries
iheartblueberries January 12, 2015
This is outstanding. Delicious. This is NOT your mom's/grandma's lumpy bowl of mush. Reading that this came from Dorie Greenspan was a hint it would be worth making.
The flavors of fennel, coriander, orange, and ginger soften and meld into something . . . not dull, not curry-ish, but something bright, balanced, warming, surprising, and wholly YUMMY. The flavors are elegant and special.
I didn't have whole cloves, so I added a couple dashes of ground to the sachet. Fine.